New England

Beach Closed on Cape Cod Due to Great White Shark Sighting

A Cape Cod beach has been temporarily closed to swimming after a great white shark was spotted swimming nearby on Monday afternoon.

Head of the Meadow Beach in Truro was closed to swimming for an hour, according to the Sharktivity app. The sighting was reported around 12:45 p.m.

The shark was one of six spotted on Monday off Cape Cod. Four sharks were also spotted by researchers with the Division of Marine Fisheries. And one was seen by multiple beachgoers eating a seal off Nauset North Beach in Orleans.

That followed a busy weekend of shark sightings, with one spotted not far from a local beach and another within close proximity to an unsuspecting paddleboarder.

The most recent sightings bring the total in the past week alone to well over a dozen.

On Saturday, a great white was spotted off Orleans.

Another was seen in Cape Cod Bay off Provincetown. The person who reported it was on a boat and said the shark appeared curious about the vessel and then swam off.

On Sunday, a Massachusetts State Police helicopter spotted a great white shark about 3 miles north of Newcomb Hollow in Wellfleet, only 100 yards from the beach.

Also that same day, a paddleboarder off Wellfleet said he saw a shark about 50 feet away from him at Marconi Beach.

Shark sightings are not unusual this time of year, but there has been a clear uptick in the number of sightings in the past week.

Typically, mid-June is when most great white sharks arrive in the New England area. Last year was a particularly active year for great whites off Cape Cod, with dozens of sightings and several beach closures due to sharks being spotted swimming close to shore.

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