Great Whites ''identify effective hunting grounds''

[JohnnyD]

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.

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.

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

[likwid]

Just like any other fish, they go where food is and in an area where they can predate easily.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

I dont do much swimming or surfing so i hope this is going to be the scene of some great discovery channel footage.

[BigJim]

When I was eleven, 27 years ago, my father used to take us to a private beach out in Westport, Ma. There was a large rock that stood out the water about 250 feet from shore. My father and I would often swim out there and hang out on the rock which was about ten feet across and fully surrounded by deep water. One day he got the bright idea to bring drop lines and cut bait out their to fish. Bad idea. We started pulling in blues and soon the rock was surrounded by a school. I was scared. Then they suddenly vanished. My relief was short lived when realized why they left so quick. I saw a 16 foot great white shark circling the rock and appeared to be looking at us. Close enough I could have dove on top of him. Remember, this is around the time the original Jaws came out. i think I screamed like a woman. he circled only for about 3- 5 minutes and took off. Luckily some people saw me screaming with a large fin sticking out of the water. Habor police came out and got us. So if anyone ever wonders why I rarely go more than knee high when I swim. There you go. True story.

[Blitzseeker]

If someone doesn't get whacked by a white in the next five years on the Outer Cape I'll be stunned. They're out there already, have been for years, and there'll only be more of them with all the seals.

I fear that's what it will take to bring attention to the overpopulation of seals.

Seals are fine. Thousands and thousands of seals are not fine. We screwed up the balance of nature by killing all of them, and now we're going to the other guardrail by allowing them to proliferate like rats. Once humans screw things up, they have to stay involved in some sort of management program...can't just walk away and say everything's fine because we "protect them" now.

Every time I see a seal off the beach now, I think of how incredible it would be to see it get whacked right in front of me. A few people see it happen each year, which means it is probably happening 50X more when people aren't watching.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Blitzseeker

Every time I see a seal off the beach now, I think of how incredible it would be to see it get whacked right in front of me. A few people see it happen each year, which means it is probably happening 50X more when people aren't watching.

That's funny, sounds like a conversation we had just last week. Was out tuna fishing with a friend, seals bobbing around and he goes, "you know, nothing would be better than seeing a shark sky right out of the water with that seal in its mouth. After seeing that happen, I wouldn't care if we were out here all day without even seeing a fish."

[Backbeach Jake]

There's a Great White hanging in the Smithsonian in DC caught off P-town in 1911, I believe. Huge fish. Gives me high hopes for seal control.

[Circlehook]

Originally Posted by Rob Rockcrawler

I dont do much swimming or surfing so i hope this is going to be the scene of some great discovery channel footage.

I heard somewhere that Skoal is a natural shark repellant, so you should be good.

[ProfessorM]

Mike better hope so too

[Kevin M]

I'll try not to think about this when I'm up there next week sitting in the yak.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

Originally Posted by Circlehook

I heard somewhere that Skoal is a natural shark repellant, so you should be good.

Thats why i do it, the secret is out. Buy stock in US Smokeless.

[BillM]

I had to cast over seals last summer when I went up to Chatham. I couldnt get over the size of them they were HUGE like walruses...and since there's no swimming out on the point anyway...Bring on the sharks!!!

[Raven]

how much is Blood per gallon again ?

[gone fishin]

As I recall we had at least three great white events last year. One was trapped in ? shallow water and brought plenty of attention. Another was sighted attacking a seal by a group taking a tour of the island to observe the Lil' darlings basking and I think another attack was spotted off the cape. I also remember a S-B member spotting carcases well chomped washing up on the beach.

They are and always have been here. It will be just a mater of time until there is another sighting this year. I wouldn't be too quick to surf board or maybe yaking around the rats.

[Finaddict]

I believe it was last summer when beach goers watched a shark take a seal right off the beach - behind the surf around Chatham ... that is scary ...

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Finaddict

that is scary ...

The scarier, the better.

I want people to be irrationally petrified. There is a minimal risk to even yakkers and surfers in our waters. But once there is even a close encounter, I know I'll be emailing every news agency, regulatory agency and anyone else that'll list about the correlation between seeing the sharks and the abundance of shark bait in our waters.

[quick decision]

There are other sharks besides whites that have always been in these waters that will take a bite out of a seal. And there are still hundreds of thousands of seals. I don’t think great whites will make a big difference. You would need hundreds of whites eating 7 seals a day, all year summer long, to make a dent on the population. Watch the discovery channel where there is great whites feeding on seals in Australia. The seal populations in those areas are not down.

[CaptMike]

Originally Posted by Rob Rockcrawler

Thats why i do it, the secret is out. Buy stock in US Smokeless.

In my experience it definitely works on women!

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by quick decision

There are other sharks besides whites that have always been in these waters that will take a bite out of a seal. And there are still hundreds of thousands of seals. I don’t think great whites will make a big difference. You would need hundreds of whites eating 7 seals a day, all year summer long, to make a dent on the population. Watch the discovery channel where there is great whites feeding on seals in Australia. The seal populations in those areas are not down.

I don't think the expectation is for sharks to take up residence in our waters and thin the seals. The hope is that more and more Whites show up and incite panic in the ignorant (read: the average person) - panic to the point where the government has to do something about the population of seals because they are drawing the sharks to these waters.

[FishermanTim]

There was a 17foot "juvenile" great white a few years back that had gone into a alt pond near Woods Hole.
If 17 feet is juvenile, then let's definitely bring on the adults.
If the great white population also increases, maybe it could have an effect on the seals, but that's just wishful thinking.

[Rip Runner]

Here's the little girl that got lost in the pond off Woods Hole. One of the coolest things I have ever seen.

A friend of mine was swimming in Hadleys Harbor when she swam up river chasing the seals. He never saw the shark but a guy came flying up to him and said "Shark, there's a shark in the pond" "GET OUT OF THE WATER!" My friend thought he was crazy but got out because he wouldn't leave him alone. It wasn't until he went home and saw the news that learned that there really was a shark in the water.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Rip Runner

Here's the little girl that got lost in the pond off Woods Hole. One of the coolest things I have ever seen.

A friend of mine was swimming in Hadleys Harbor when she swam up river chasing the seals. He never saw the shark but a guy came flying up to him and said "Shark, there's a shark in the pond" "GET OUT OF THE WATER!" My friend thought he was crazy but got out because he wouldn't leave him alone. It wasn't until he went home and saw the news that learned that there really was a shark in the water.

No other word to describe those pictures but.... Awesome!

[fishbones]

Originally Posted by FishermanTim

There was a 17foot "juvenile" great white a few years back that had gone into a alt pond near Woods Hole.
If 17 feet is juvenile, then let's definitely bring on the adults.
If the great white population also increases, maybe it could have an effect on the seals, but that's just wishful thinking.

If it was a juvenile, it was an extrordinary fish. The average adult GW grows to about 12 to 16 feet. The largest confirmed GW that was caught was "only" 21 feet. I'd be willing to bet that being up close to one would make it seem bigger than it actually is.

I got this information from one of the 10 shark books my son brought home from the library last week. He's obsessed with them. Every night I read a new book about sharks.

[JoeBass]

Originally Posted by BigJim

When I was eleven, 27 years ago, my father used to take us to a private beach out in Westport, Ma. There was a large rock that stood out the water about 250 feet from shore. My father and I would often swim out there and hang out on the rock which was about ten feet across and fully surrounded by deep water. One day he got the bright idea to bring drop lines and cut bait out their to fish. Bad idea. We started pulling in blues and soon the rock was surrounded by a school. I was scared. Then they suddenly vanished. My relief was short lived when realized why they left so quick. I saw a 16 foot great white shark circling the rock and appeared to be looking at us. Close enough I could have dove on top of him. Remember, this is around the time the original Jaws came out. i think I screamed like a woman. he circled only for about 3- 5 minutes and took off. Luckily some people saw me screaming with a large fin sticking out of the water. Habor police came out and got us. So if anyone ever wonders why I rarely go more than knee high when I swim. There you go. True story.

That is one intense thing to go through. Especially at 11. I can just imagine how intense that was.

[Van]

Like this ?

[GonnaCatchABig1]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

The scarier, the better.

I want people to be irrationally petrified. There is a minimal risk to even yakkers and surfers in our waters. But once there is even a close encounter, I know I'll be emailing every news agency, regulatory agency and anyone else that'll list about the correlation between seeing the sharks and the abundance of shark bait in our waters.

do you honestly think anybody having a knee jerk reaction to a shark attack will blame the seals? cause i don't. i just see a shark hunt in the making.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by GonnaCatchABig1

do you honestly think anybody having a knee jerk reaction to a shark attack will blame the seals? cause i don't. i just see a shark hunt in the making.

Nope. But I'm hoping intelligent people make the connection and use that knowledge to get the connection broadcast on the news.

Local Cape news will ignore the connection (or the story about sharks completely), due to the possible effect on tourism.

[Mr. Sandman]

No question in my mind whatsoever that they will come to feed on the seals and I think it will occur between monomoy and MV. They have already found some seals bit in half floating in the sounds. The little sand islands offshore are paved with seals..Some are PAVED solid at times. It's not one here one there, they are so thick in places that it looks like a pile of rocks. They don't leave anymore and are here year round.

There will be a real life "Jaws" situation and I think finally there will be some community pressure on environmental groups to take some action and allow fishermen to thin the heard and not the paying beach goers.

I think it happens soon...like in a few years and probably first strike on Nantucket or MV where there are a high population of summer bait...uh, I mean swimmers.

These protection groups are extremists in their own rights, they aim to protect every little thing at our expense and it is always mankind's fault for their demise. The other day I read the hold up on permits for building wind turbines and solar panels in the deserts of Nevada have been stalled...because these groups are protecting insects will be impacted out there. They gave Obama grief for swatting a fly the other day. This is ridiculous.

[MAKAI]

These protection groups are extremists in their own rights, they aim to protect every little thing at our expense and it is always mankind's fault for their demise. The other day I read the hold up on permits for building wind turbines and solar panels in the deserts of Nevada have been stalled...because these groups are protecting insects will be impacted out there. They gave Obama grief for swatting a fly the other day. This is ridiculous.[/QUOTE

I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY 1% OF THE COUNTRY CAN DICTATE POLICY TO 99% OF US.

[tunamaster_28]

My friend and I were on Stellwagen bank recently.... Fishing for Tuna..... When something hit my Butterfly jig and started to run.... Then near the boat a huge boil of white water....My buddy goes is that a whale???? Then the huge thing dives and really starts to scream drag.... Then it BREACHES..... Near the boat..... COMPLETELY out of water...... 25 FEET of BEAST.... We both saw it clear as day.... NOT A WHALE, NOT A BASKING SHARK.......

THis was a Huge Mako or Great White.

We looked on the internet and does not look like Mako's get that big????

And 25 feet is being conservitive!!!!! SSSSHHHAAARK!

HOLY !@%#&