Stay Away: Why You Shouldn’t Come To The MA Shore This Summer

Beaches are a must in the summer in my books, but when it comes to shark sightings that is not a good sign! According to bostonherald.com, the month of August aka Cape Cod’s busiest shark month was quite active, as several great white shark alerts and sightings were reported close to 50-100 feet from shore. These sharks are no small pet ether, we're talking great whites!

How do we know when sharks are in the area?

There's an app called 'Sharktivity app' where app alerts are sent out when a white shark sighting is confirmed close to a public beach. For example, on Tuesday, August 1st, an app alert reported at around 2:15 p.m. that a great white was spotted within 100 feet from the Orleans’ shoreline near Callanan’s pass. Another shark alert was issued for Nauset Beach in Orleans Tuesday afternoon.

Below is an example of an app alert from the app.

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August seems to be the busiest month for shark sightings on The Cape. Take last year for example, According to Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Logbook, there were 66,097 detections of tagged sharks in August, followed by September in second place with 47,177 detections. Crazy right!?

Is this just Cape Cod we're talking about?

No, actually great white sharks don’t just hang out along the Cape during the summer months as one tagged shark named Big Daddy has been quickly migrating north in recent days off the coast of Maine.

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy tweeted on Tuesday:

“He was detected on a real-time receiver in Massachusetts on 7/28! It’s incredible how far a shark can swim in a few days! Download Sharktivity to keep up with real-time detections and sightings.”

It just goes to show how busy shark researchers have been when out on the water. My advice take your smartphone with you, obey directions from lifeguards (when on duty), and just be cautious if you plan to swim on the shore for the rest of this summer.