Great white sharks have been spotted swimming very close to the Outer Cape shoreline in recent days, while a seal with shark bites was also reported along the Cape’s northern tip.
This is the busiest time of the Cape’s shark season, as the apex predators hunt for seals close to shore.
Over the weekend, multiple shark sightings were reported within 30 yards from popular beaches.
“White shark spotted 10 yards from shore off Nauset Beach (Orleans),” reads the Sunday afternoon shark sighting on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.
“White shark spotted 30 yards from shore a mile south of Coast Guard Beach (Eastham),” reads another shark sighting from Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday morning, a shark alert went out for a shark swimming off of Chatham, a hotbed of great white activity this time of year.
“!! SHARK ALERT !! White shark spotted 100 yards off North Beach Island,” tweeted MA Sharks, which is run by shark researcher John Chisholm, who confirms shark sightings for the Sharktivity app.
Shark alerts are issued when a white shark sighting is confirmed close to a public beach.
Then on Monday afternoon, a seal with shark bites was spotted off of Provincetown’s Race Point Beach.
August has been the busiest month for shark activity along the Cape in recent years.
Last year, August had the most shark detections at receivers, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Logbook. There were 66,097 detections of tagged sharks in August last year, followed by September in second place with 47,177 detections.
Meanwhile, sharks are also heading farther north this time of year. A stranded great white shark was reported along Canada’s Prince Edward Island on Monday.
“Of all the things I thought I would see today, I never imagined it would be a juvenile great white shark on the beach,” musical artist Flo Durelle posted on Facebook. “Greenwich Beach PEI. I will add that it was already deceased and authorities had been notified.”
