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George Breen / CapeCodSharkHunters.com
This photo shows what Cape Cod Shark Hunters says is a 16-foot great white shark in the foreground swimming near a group of seals. The shark was spotted last week north of the Chatham, Mass., harbor inlet in close proximity to popular swimming beaches.
One Cape Cod town is warning swimmers of a menace lurking in the waters this Fourth of July: great white sharks.
Recent sightings of at least two great whites, including one reportedly measuring up to 16 feet in length, prompted officials in Chatham, Mass., to ban swimming in an an area known for its abundance of seals, according to The Cape Cod Chronicle.
“Chatham issues advisory after numerous shark sightings, banning swimming within 300 feet of seals along eastern coast,” according to a statement posted by the Cape Cod Chronicle on its Twitter account on Sunday.
Calls by msnbc.com to the Chatham harbormaster were unanswered on Monday.
George Breen, a pilot for the Sandwich, Mass.-based conservation group Cape Cod Shark Hunters, said he identified two great white sharks during a routine survey flight on June 28. One shark, he said, was seen about a half mile offshore, while the other was just 50 yards from land.
The larger one, a 16-footer, was spotted near North Beach Island in Chatham, he said.
“He was big and close to shore,” Breen told msnbc.com.
Breen said the two great whites he spotted did not appear to be the same two tagged last year and detected via transmitter signals picked off Chatham last week. At least eight sharks were tagged for research last year, Breen said.
'We have so many seals'
Shark sightings, including some in near-shore waters, have spiked in recent years as great whites continue to hunt seals off the Chatham coast, said Joe Fitzback, a veteran sea captain with Chatman Bait & Tackle.
"The great whites have always been here and we will have more," Fitzback told msnbc.com on Monday. "We have so many seals that it only makes sense that we will have more sightings as the years go by."
Fitzback said he also spotted a great white shark last week but it was unclear if it was one of the two spotted by Breen. He said his first encounter with a great white came in July 2001, when he was in a boat just a couple of miles east of South Beach.
"They're out there and they're hungry for seals," Fitzback said.
He said shark sightings have become big business for the resort town, located on the elbow of Cape Cod. Chatham has six beaches, five located on the Nantucket Sound and one on the ocean side of the Atlantic.
"It's a novelty of sorts," Fitzback said. "When there are sightings, it gets kind of hectic around here. Everyone wants to come down to see the sharks. But the truth is, you can't see them from the beach, you have to go out into the water."
Last year, several Chatham beaches shut down due to shark sightings and reports of seal attacks.
As of Monday, Chatham beaches remained open.
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Leave a Comment:
Here's to swimmin with bow-legged women". - Quint (Jaws 1975)
"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat". - Brody (Jaws 1975)
My favorite movie quote ever is from the same man, same movie:
awwww thats nothing. see this here. mary ann moffit- she broke my heart. mr hooper (jaws 1975)
"Fairwell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies...."
im not talkin' 'bout pleasure boatin' or day sailin'. im talkin' 'bout workin' for a livin'. im talkin' 'bout sharkin'!
"Ah. Just like I thought... He came up with the Gulf Stream - from southern waters."
"I got no spit." Hooper (Jaws 1975)
-Mayor Vaughn
Let's see, they have to ban swimming in an area where seals are known to frequent. I guess telling people that a 16 foot great white is in the area in not enough motivation to stay on dry land. Well, I say let the mouth breathers go in the water and get eaten, then the average IQ qoutient of the country will go up.
Chief Brody.
Dammit, robiscoole-
Ref: bigger boat quote: You beat me to it! LOL!
:-)
"...he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes..."
Quint, Jaws, -1975
Roadhouse...you just know there's someone there who's itchin' to get out in that water....we'll hear about it soon enough...
I don't know how they were spotted off Cape Cod because they look solid gray in that pic.
Shape of the body, fins and head, the size, and even the way they swim can all be used to recognize different types of sharks.
This first thread is beautiful.
When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those
black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible
high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and
the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces.
On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from
Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached
over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top.
Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist.
Sadly, for those who get outraged at the government issuing edicts like this, despite it being a matter of safety, it would be a matter of honor to go in the water anyway. If they get eaten, maimed and/or killed, it will be called "God's Will."
White Sharks continue to prove they will migrate at a moments notice to predate, you don't survive a 100 million years without knowing how to follow the food source. Amazing animals, if we can just keep Asians from turning them into aphrodisiacs. Seriously, buy some Viagra already..
Well we all know the world is only 6K years old or so (sarcasm).
And asians don't need anything that can help them increase their numbers - viagra or sharks or whatever.
"It's called "territoriality". It's just a theory that I happen to... agree with." - Hooper
I'm thinking of hunting shark finners and not the sharks... and no one would really care is you sold a few trophies along the way... Best damned shark finner is a dead shark finner... Let's let the sharks have a chance to survive a few more millenia...
While I do not call for their death I agree with you. We need to protect our apex predator because if we lose them it we won't have a healthy ocean. What I can not understand is why some have to kill everything?
They kill the sharks for the fins & throw the carcass back. Shark fin soup is what I've seen on TV.
Huh? Were they "great white" or were they "spotted"?
I was at Chatham Bars Inn just last week and there were no seals visible on the sand bar.
So I went inside and had another drink.
Asians do not use shark as an aphrodisiac - Everybody knows they use whales testicles. Silly rabbit.
But this is from America- Right.
Dum dum dum dum - and Dumb dumb dumb dumb too.
Are the Sharks Republicans or Democrats?
Both!
They use the fins for soup the rest is wasted.
To compare sharks to Republicans and/or Democrats is an INSULT to the Sharks!
Orcas you talking bout orcas Mr. Hooper, just tie me a sheepshank
What keeps the seals from swimming within 300 feet to humans? Maybe it's a good year to stay out of the ocean.
Exactly what I was thinking. I hope someone tells the sharks.
Not nearly as dangerous as those in DC who feed on US citizens.
Hope it bites John Kerry in the arse
Heinz looks like blood, but it IS what ketchup tastes like when it comes in glass bottles!
Now that's mean Nerf.... Why would any self-respecting shark want to bite a foul, toxic Politician, regardless of party.... and Catsup is about the only tomato product I will not eat :)
"Smile! You son of a bitch!" (Brody)
More people are killed and eaten by cannibals than sharks.
wildcatwest I love your avatar? They are a beautiful animal.
"Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July."
A 16 foot great white shark could bite a person in half, literally. I saw one once on a hook, caught by a fisherman who got it "out there"; I stopped swimming buoys after that.
Here lies the body of Mary Lee; died at the age of a hundred and three. For fifteen years she kept her virginity; not a bad record for this vicinity.
My aunt had this one on her wall as long as I can remember, It was an epitaph on a tombstone.
Paw loved maw
Maw loved paw
Maw caught paw with 2 wimmin in swimmin
here lies paw.
The original JAWS is Back! 16 footer she's just a baby!
"He won't believe he's got a problem 'till it swims up and bites him in the ass!" (Hooper's comment to Brody about the Mayor should be a bumper sticker on the automobile of every politician in the country.)
Wow 16 comments in and no one realized this is Bush's fault?
Why did you have to remind them?
Wait Joe, I thought it was Obama's fault. Not to worry though, I'm sure the SCOTUS will make a ruling indicating that it's unconstitutional for sharks and seals to swim to close to beaches.
Remember the ocean is their home, we are the visitors.
I believe there are enough JAWS fans here to do the dialogue from the entire movie...LOL
Here Sharky, Sharky,,, want to eat that nice fat Republican... Good Boy, have another one.
Republican or Democrat, the politicians are too hard to swallow.... leave them to forage on sea food.
Proof yet again, liberals are fascists.
x
I think a shark would eat radioactive dog scat before they eat a politician....
Haaaaaaaaaaaaa! You are all great! I have to admit though,"were going to need a bigger boat" is my favorite from the movie. Good luck Chatham!
I agree!. I saw that movie four times in a row just to hear him say that, and every time it's on TV, I have to stop what I am doing and watch it, just to hear that line.
That was MY favorite line too. I loved it. And yes they did need a bigger boat. lol
Actually, the line is "You're going to need a bigger boat".
Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin' bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go.
Let the fun begin. Now the one thing I've heard is you try to rip their eye balls out...they'll let go of you...And yank on their gills with all you've got!
Excellent comments on this story. I was laughing from the first one down. Political ones were kinda stupid, now we just need an audio file with the music from Jaws to play as you read the story. Perfect timing Mr/Ms GW Shark, for the 4th of July!!!
political ones are always stupid...it would be nice if we could just forget politics for a while...
bluepanther20 - AMEN!
I would say feed him Obama but I don't think they eat junk food.
Politics S**K..... Keep it on JAWS :)
Sorry.... sharks won't eat Obama... they don't like whale feces!
We're going to need a bigger boat.
LOL.. no matter how many times it's posted, I'll vote for it... one of the greatest lines in movie history!
When I first saw "Jaws"--when it came out the first time, the "bigger boat" line was the instant catch phrase. In Aliens, it was "Get away from her you bitch!" (Ripley to the Mother Alien).
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." (GWTW) "Play it again, (Sam)." (Casablanca) "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse." (The Godfather) Most movies have at least one, great memorable line. "We're going to need a bigger boat" will always be epic with me.