Cape Cod shark sightings: Great white shark was ‘circling’ 50 feet from Orleans shore
The first day of Cape Cod’s busiest shark month was quite active, as several great white shark alerts and sightings were reported close to shore.
Around 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, a great white was spotted within 100 feet from the Orleans’ shoreline.
“Circling 50-100 feet from shore. In front of Callanan’s pass,” reads the shark alert on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.
Shark alerts on the Sharktivity app are sent out when a white shark sighting is confirmed close to a public beach. A notification goes out with each alert.
Another shark alert was issued for Nauset Beach in Orleans Tuesday afternoon.
“!! SHARK ALERT !! White shark ~500 ft off Nauset Beach,” tweeted MA Sharks, which is run by local shark researcher John Chisholm, who confirms shark sightings for the Sharktivity app.
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.
Atlantic Ocean great white sharks don’t just hang out along the Cape during the summer. One tagged shark named Big Daddy has been quickly migrating north in recent days.
“Big Daddy was detected on a real-time receiver off of Maine yesterday,” 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.”
Meanwhile, shark researchers have been busy out on the water. Last week, shark biologist Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries — working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy — tagged three white sharks.