Greg Skomal

This shark was eager to flash its toothy grin for the camera! On Friday, Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries captured footage of a white shark that was chasing his camera underwater off the coast of Cape Cod.  Based on the video shared by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy on Monday, the shark is anything but camera…

Now that shark season is officially here, researchers on Cape Cod are busy trying to find a way to predict when the animals are swimming close to the shore.

It’s shark season, and researchers are trying to predict when they may be close to shore.

White shark sightings and shark-related beach closings have surged on Cape Cod this summer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more sharks have flocked to the waters. More people on the lookout for sharks and increased vigilance have contributed to burgeoning numbers of shark sightings, says Megan Winton, a research scientist for the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

A forecast of “partly cloudy with a chance of sharks” might actually one day be useful for beachgoers, if a meteorologist’s theory connecting shark sightings with wind speed holds true. So far, the data supports a connection between the two, according to Massachusetts meteorologist Joe Merchant, who now lives in Texas and has an endless fascination with sharks.

In recent years, great white shark sightings have become all the more common on Cape Cod. Already this year, more than 150 of the sharks have been spotted off of Massachusetts. Most of the sightings are on the outer Cape, from Chatham to Provincetown. But there have also been many sightings in Cape Cod Bay, where research scientists have been...

Over the past week, there were 17 shark sightings off Cape Cod, including seven over the weekend alone. According to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app, great white sharks were spotted in Cape Cod Bay and off Truro, Eastham, Orleans, Chatham and Monomoy Island.

Already this summer, more than 100 sharks have been spotted off Cape Cod, including 33 in the past week alone. On at least five occasions in the past week, beaches on the Cape have been closed to swimming temporarily due to shark sightings near shore.

Shark warnings are the new normal around Cape Cod, so local surfers are turning to new technology to safely share the waters with the marine beasts. “They’re everywhere,” surfer Shawn Vecchione said. “One day I counted 20 (sharks) right after I got out of the water.” It’s been getting easier for long-time surfers on the Cape to spot the...

A tussle between two great white sharks was caught on camera, and experts intend to examine the footage to learn more about their behavior. The video recorded by Nate Jensen shows a smaller great white shark making contact with a larger great white shark off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts. The second shark swims away in the footage.

A tussle between two great white sharks was caught on camera, and experts intend to examine the footage to learn more about their behavior. The video recorded by Nate Jensen shows a smaller great white shark making contact with a larger great white shark off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts. The second shark swims away in the footage.

Researchers on Cape Cod are launching a new study focused on the hunting and feeding habits of the region’s great white sharks following last year’s two attacks on humans. Greg Skomal, a state marine biologist leading the effort, says the hope is to contribute critical information to the ongoing debate over how to keep Cape beachgoers safe.

Great white shark researchers are turning their attention to Cape Cod Bay.

Researchers studying the growing population of great white sharks off Cape Cod have completed a five-year effort to tag and track the powerful predators. The Cape Cod Times reports Massachusetts state biologist Greg Skomal and his team tagged the last shark of the study off Provincetown last week.

A man boogie boarding earlier this month off a Cape Cod beach died after being attacked by a shark, becoming the state’s first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years....
Bob Benson and his girlfriend Gail Sluis were among those who tried to help save 26-year-old Arthur Medici’s life. Benson recalled the tragic incident as “traumatizing.”...
Medici’s death prompted officials and...

The Massachusetts town where a man was fatally attacked by a shark this month is holding a public meeting to consider how the community can respond.

When a shark killed Arthur Medici at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet on Saturday afternoon, it was the first deadly shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936. There may not have been any “no swimming” signs up and there hadn’t been any shark sightings in the area, but marine biologist Dr. Greg Skomal said these days we have to always assume...

Newly released 911 calls paint a vivid picture of the chaotic scene at Newcomb Hollow Beach after a shark attack Saturday that ultimately claimed the life of a 26-year-old Massachusetts man.

A man boogie boarding off a Cape Cod beach was attacked by a shark on Saturday and died later at a hospital, becoming the state’s first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years.

A man boogie boarding off a Cape Cod beach was attacked by a shark on Saturday and died later at a hospital, becoming the state’s first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years. Arthur Medici, 26, of Revere, succumbed to his injuries following the attack in the waters off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet just after noon, Wellfleet Police...