Fishing gear did not cause the death of a 12-foot great white shark that washed ashore on Cape Cod over the weekend, according to scientists who recently completed a necropsy and found no signs of physical trauma.
Greg Skomal from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries said the shark probably got stranded while looking for food too close to the beach.
“The sharks are attempting to kill in fields that are very close to the beach or in some cases right in the surf zone,” said Skomal. “And miscalculations by the shark could result in it stranding, and getting up on these sandbars, and therefore, literally drowning.”
Skomal said a healthy population of grey seals is one reason we’re seeing more sharks in the area.
“What we’re seeing with white sharks off the coast of Cape Cod is typically very low numbers until recently,” said Skomal. “I’d say over the last decade we’ve seen an increase in the numbers.”
Skomal said these incidents give scientists insight about great whites, a top ocean predator. Scientists have been tagging great whites in the waters off Cape Cod to better understand their migration patterns.
