Chatham Continues to Prepare for Summer with Beach Safety Initiatives

CHATHAM – Town officials in Chatham continue to prepare for the summer with shark and seal safety measures.

All lifeguards, harbor patrol and beach patrol staff have received “Stop the Bleed,” first aid and CPR training, and first aid kiosks have been installed on North Beach and North Beach Island.

Director of Natural Resources Robert Duncanson recently presented to Selectmen proposed metal signs that warn visitors to stay away from seals.

The caution signs would be 12-by-18 inches and remind visitors to not approach seals as they can bite and transmit disease, and that harassing seals is against the law.

“Our intent is to have these posted at all the beaches, all the town landings, the Fish Pier and anywhere else,” Duncanson said. “I’m getting 36 ordered so we should have plenty of them.”

Selectmen asked Duncanson to have the signs include stronger wording to state that harassing seals is against federal law.

Duncanson is also talking with the harbormaster about implementing boat patrols in Oyster Pond Beach during youth swimming lessons. The idea would be to deploy a Zodiac-style inflatable boat to watch for seals and sharks.

“He and I did talk about the logistics of doing that because that boat patrols areas other than Oyster Pond and they don’t spend a lot of time in Oyster Pond because there isn’t as much activity as there is in Stage Harbor or Nantucket Sound,” Duncanson said.

Duncanson said having a boat patrolling the water would not be an absolute shark attack prevention method.

“Oyster Pond is one of our more heavily impacted waterbodies so visibility isn’t the greatest,” Duncanson said.

“So even having a boat up in there, potentially something could get through that we wouldn’t necessarily see.”

The Oyster Pond Boat patrol plan follows town meeting voters rejecting $100,000 in funding to study and purchase some type of shark barrier or shark deterrent system at the Beach.

Officials also discussed moving the swimming lessons to a freshwater pond, but the idea was determined not feasible.

Officials are also seeking to have shark survey spotter pilots scan the waters of Stage Harbor and Oyster Pond during trips for the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

The surveys are conducted on the Atlantic Ocean-side beaches from Chatham up through Provincetown.

“I’m going to be talking to them to see about whether or not they can also do sweeps through the Stage Harbor area and the Oyster Pond area,” Duncanson said.

He also advised residents to use the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s smartphone app which posts alerts for shark sightings near shore.

A study by the Woods Hole Group evaluating technologies to detect or repel sharks is currently underway but recommendations are not expected until after the summer season.

The efforts are a result of two shark attacks off Outer Cape beaches late last summer.

A New York man was attacked off Truro in August and recovered from his injuries. A Revere man was killed during an attack off Wellfleet in September.

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