Great white sharks are in the news a lot this week, what with a kayak bitten by a large shark while the occupant was paddling off Santa Cruz. On the East Coast, there have been sightings close to shore near Cape Cod. And right before Fourth of July, the beach off La Jolla in southern California was closed because of a great white swimming close to shore.
None of the California sightings come as a surprise to researchers with our Project White Shark team. Since 2002, we and our university colleagues have documented the movements and migrations of great white sharks along our coast.
We’ve confirmed that adults make seasonal migrations from the coast to waters as far west as Hawaii—and beyond—as well as to a place midway between the coast and Hawaii that our researchers have dubbed the “White Shark Café.”
Those adults are returning to the Central Coast right about now, a migration timed to the arrival of elephant seals and other pinnipeds at breeding colonies in the Farallon Islands outside San Francisco Bay and at Point Año Nuevo north of Santa Cruz.
Off southern California, smaller juvenile great whites are common much of the time, including in waters right outside the surf zone along popular beaches. There are few reported interactions with people, because the young sharks feed on schooling fishes, small sharks and rays, and similar prey—animals whose shape is not easily confused with that of a person swimming, surfing or paddling on the surface.
We’ll be back in the field in August, for another season of tagging both adults and juveniles. We already have data from around 250 tags on adults and around 50 tags on juveniles.
Notes
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These creatures are simply amazing! Cannot wait for Shark Week.
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Sharks: The Misunderstood Pitbulls
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Love. Want to be involved
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I am sharing with everyone, with this post exactly how crazy I am. I swim at the Central Southern California Coast out...
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