Massachusetts

Great White Up Close: GoPro Captures Shark Off Cape Cod

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy captured the video of the white shark off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts

A great white shark got up close and personal with a GoPro camera off Cape Cod.

The video camera caught the inquisitive shark swimming off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts.

Footage released by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy during a research trip on June 30 shows the shark circling the GoPro, at one point swimming toward and bumping the camera.

"Sometimes white sharks are curious about the @GoPro!" the conservancy tweeted Wednesday.

"They were in about 10 feet of water and these are wild animals, so you never know what they're going to do<" said Marianne Long, the conservancy's education director.

That's why the organization wants beachgoers to be "shark smart" as they hit Cape Cod's beaches.

"If they see a shark out there in the water, you want to keep a safe distance away from them and you want to back yourself away," Long said.

This shark is one of several reported sightings near Cape Cod over the past few weeks. The most recent great white was spotted about 40 yards off Marconi Beach on Tuesday, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

The sightings won't stop some people from playing in the ocean.

"No, no, no," said Teddy Wells of Bethesda, Maryland. "I'm not scared of sharks."

"As long as you don't go too deep, they're not going to be able to come in the shallow, so you can still, like, swim a little bit," added Jeremy Sullivan of Abington, Massachusetts.

But with video like Wednesday's circulating, the message is resonating with many visitors.

"I think it's a little too aggressive to take this as a joke," said Anthony Costa of Bedford, New Hampshire.

"I personally won't go in the water," added Nicki Goumas, also of Bedford.

There have not been any shark attacks reported on the Cape this year. In 2018, two separate people were attacked by sharks on Cape Cod, including the first fatal attack in Massachusetts since 1936.

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