BARNSTABLE – The Barnstable County Commissioners proclaimed August as “Cape Cod Gray Seal and Great White Shark Awareness Month” Wednesday, but not without debate.
The proclamation was brought to the county officials by Wellfleet residents John Kartsounis and Drew Taylor and was placed on the agenda by Commissioner Ronald Beaty.
Kartsounis said the proclamation would “provide us with a springboard to disseminate much needed information on the subject to the public via the media.”
Kartsounis said he is concerned about how much the general public doesn’t know about shark facts and the misinformation being spread.
“The public, rightly so, is confused on this matter,” he said. “I think the more we educate and the more we get information out there, the better off everyone is.”
Kartsounis said the proclamation will also give incentive to elected officials at the town, state and federal level to proactively address the important health and public safety issue impacting the region.
He also hopes the awareness month will bring together conflicting special interest groups to reach a common goal of public health and safety.
Kartsounis said by promoting health and safety the public will have confidence and trust, which will provide a positive outcome for the region’s important tourism industry.
Beaty said the proclamation will provide an umbrella for towns, nonprofits and the media to provide shark safety facts to the public.
“It doesn’t take a position as far as mitigation or anything like that,” Beaty said. “It just provides public awareness.”
The commissioners approved the proclamation 2-1, with the dissenting vote by Chairman Ronald Bergstrom.
“This seems to be a vehicle by which we can discuss a very contentious issue and you have seen the contention,” Bergstrom said.
Bergstrom said there are people who want to limit the shark and seal populations and there are people who don’t.
“I just feel that we are in danger of creating a vehicle by which this debate can continue in a very undisciplined way,” Bergstrom said.
Bergstrom added that he did not remember the county approving proclamations such as this. Beaty pointed out that there were recent proclamations for “Cape Cod Smart Transportation Week” in June and “Suicide Prevention Month” in September.
Bergstrom said those are issues the county is directly involved in.
He added that a shark working group made up of representatives from the Outer Cape towns, the Cape Cod National Seashore, scientists and Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr (D-Truro) and State Representative Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown) is the vehicle that will put a plan and resources in place.
Kartsounis asked why commercial fishermen, tourists and surfers are represented in the working group.
“That is what this proclamation is for,” Kartsounis said.
Bergstrom said that awareness is one thing, but that he did not want to turn this into a debate over protecting or culling sharks.
“This proclamation doesn’t do any of that. It’s only about public awareness,” Beaty said.
Commissioner Mary Pat Flynn supports awareness programs when it comes to sharks and seals on Cape Cod and voted in favor of the proclamation.
“I think we need to help [the towns] provide the safety that not only the residents need, but the people who come here need,” she said. “And one of the big ways to do that is to create an awareness month. It gets out there. It is something people look at.”
Kartsounis and Taylor are advocating for community involvement and to consider all possible options to help keep the public safe following the two shark attacks last summer, one of which in Wellfleet that resulted in a fatality.
The two sponsored an article at Wellfleet town meeting that proposed the select board place a question on the next election ballot that would ask if town officials should be more proactive in addressing the seal and great white shark populations. That article was defeated.
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