With the striper season in full swing, anyone that fishes off the Race has probably seen seals every trip out. Heck, we were seeing them bobbing around in 160' of water a few miles offshore.
With that, some discussion (and hopes) have taken place on the potential for more and more sightings of Great Whites in the region.
Two parts of this article struck me as very interesting with regards to some of the similarities off Seal Island in S. Africa and off the Race.
First off, the article states that the biggest Whites appear to learn the most effective locations to find seals and areas most effective for hunting them. With the exploding population of seals in our waters, there's the potential that the dense population of seals have not been found yet.
Second, waters off Seal Island where the Sharks hunt have similar characteristics as off the Race.
Quote:
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The island is home to some 64,000 Cape fur seals, which must swim across water that reaches depths of 20m just 50m from the shore.
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Whites have been seen in our waters before. With the seals apparently furthering their range and foraging miles off shore, Whites "learning new hunting grounds" seems a possibility.
"Great whites 'plan' seal attacks"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth...00/8110246.stm