Great white shark activity again ramped up along the Cape last year, as apex predator detections hit an all-time high for the seventh straight year with researchers tagging more sharks in the region every summer and fall.
The total number of shark detections approached 200,000 for the first time last year, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy tagging tracker, which was recently updated with 2022 data. The detection data comes from acoustic receivers, which record the presence of white sharks that have been tagged with transmitters.
The count of 193,475 shark detections in 2022 was a record-high for the seventh straight year in the Conservancy’s White Shark Logbook. The previous all-time high from 2021 was 169,938 detections. The Logbook has detection data from as far back as 2010.
As researchers with the Conservancy and Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries keep tagging white sharks each year, the shark detection data is climbing. Last year’s count of 133 individual sharks detected was the most ever — breaking down to 1,455 receiver detections per shark. Dozens of receivers are deployed each year to track the shark activity.
“It’s important to remember that the receivers can only detect sharks tagged with acoustic transmitters, and there are still a lot of white sharks out there that haven’t been tagged,” Conservancy research scientist Megan Winton said in the past about the Logbook data.
“As scientists, we use the data collected from tagged sharks to give us an idea of what the population is doing as a whole,” she added. “People should think of the data provided by the Logbook the same way — as a proxy for shark activity off the coast.”
In the Logbook, people can see where and when tagged white sharks were detected, learn more about individual white sharks, and get an idea of where activity is concentrated in a relative sense.
The 2022 detection data again shows that white shark activity is highest along the Outer Cape in particular, where seal densities are highest.
The top hotspot for shark detections last year was again off of Chatham’s Monomoy Island, where the apex predators feast on seals.
The acoustic receiver at South Shark Cove off the island had 20,849 total detections, the most shark detections across the entire Cape last year.
Of the 133 total sharks detected along the Cape last year, 92 sharks were detected at this Monomoy receiver. Behind the Chatham hotspot, the northern tip of the Cape off Truro was busy with shark activity last year.
“This app does not contain or constitute, and should not be interpreted as advice as to what beaches or parts of water are safe,” the Logbook warns. “The only way to completely prevent a close encounter with a shark is to stay on shore.”
August was again the busiest month for shark activity with 66,060 detections. The second-most active month was September with 47,152 detections, followed by October with 32,181 detections. Sharks were detected from May to December.
To check out the Conservancy’s logbook, visit shiny.atlanticwhiteshark.org/logbook.
