Voters in a Massachusetts town have narrowly rejected a proposal to spend $100,000 on a shark barrier at a beach where children take swimming lessons.
The Cape Cod Times reports that Chatham town meeting voters on Tuesday rejected the article 113-112.
Selectman Jeffrey Dykens made the proposal. The money would have paid for a feasibility study, and if determined advisable, construction of the barrier at Oyster Pond.
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Dykens said he wanted to ensure one beach in town was shark free.
Seth Taylor called the proposal "silly," noting it would be difficult for a large shark to swim up the inlet to the tidal salt pond.
There have been increased great white shark sightings around Cape Cod in recent years. A 26-year-old man was killed by a shark in Wellfleet last September.