Sharks

Discovery Channel’s Shark Week event has been a television hit for decades, but what’s resonated with audiences hasn’t always done the same for shark scientists —plenty see serious flaws in the programming. One group of scientists has taken their criticism to the next level. They watched all 32 years of Shark Week to analyze who is repr...

Overfishing is a problem across our oceans and especially in Massachusetts – years of overfishing depleted the very fishery that gave so Cape Cod its name. The World Wildlife Fund says that 39% of fish stocks are overfished, and that includes sharks.  In decades past, shore-based recreational fishing for sandbar sharks on Cape Cod rose i...

Researchers with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources have placed dozens of buoys off of beaches to track white sharks. They could help prevent incidents like Maine’s first fatal shark attack, which occurred off of Bailey Island last July. There are 32 buoys total stretching from York in southern Maine to Squirrel Island, near Boothba...

For the return of “Shark Tales,” our podcast series that explores the world of sharks in New England, we asked shark experts what they know about the megalodon, which is certainly dead and gone, no matter what video goes viral

A shark sighting at a beach in Duxbury, Massachusetts, on Tuesday morning led officials to temporarily suspend swimming. The shark was spotted shortly before 7 a.m. near Duxbury Beach. As of now, swimming is not being allowed but the beach is expected to reopen to swimmers later in the day. Shark flags are flying, and lifeguards are on duty to&#823...

A shark washed ashore at First Encounter Beach in Eastham, Massachusetts, on Thursday. The porbeagle shark was dead by the time responders arrived, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy said. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service’s Apex Predator Program will collect the shark to determine what ca...

A shark was spotted in Chatham, Massachusetts, Sunday afternoon.  The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy reported the shark sighting off North Beach Island.  The shark was spotted by a pilot about 2:40 p.m. Shark sightings become more common off Cape Cod from late June through October as part of a seasonal migration.

A temporary no-swim order was issued on Race Point Beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts following a shark sighting late Saturday morning. Cape Cod National Seashore Lifeguards ordered beachgoers on the popular Cape Cod beach to stay away from the waters and participate in beach-only activities for at least an hour following the sighting. This sight...

Every June, the great white sharks return to the waters of Cape Cod. And this year is no exception. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy said a great white dubbed James was detected on a receiver off North Beach in Chatham on Friday. The receiver was just deployed on Thursday. James was originally tagged in 2014 and has returned to the…...

For the first time, a great white shark has been tagged off the coast of Rhode Island. WJAR reported that a tag was placed on the juvenile shark on Saturday, when it was located in the Point Judith Harbor of Refuge. The tag will allow the Atlantic Shark Institute to track the shark for 10 years. Less than 300 sharks…

Maine state coastal parks will adopt a flag system used in Massachusetts to warn beachgoers of the presence of sharks. The move comes after the state’s first documented fatal shark attack in the state last summer. A woman was killed on July 27, 2020, by a great white while swimming about 20 yards offshore in Harpswell. “It’s nothing new, but....

Researchers in New England and Canada are teaming up to learn more about the great white sharks appearing in the Northeast’s waters in greater numbers each summer.

A group of black women in shark science have come together to form Minorities in Shark Science to encourage young women of color to become marine scientists and offer them opportunities to launch them into the field.