ORLEANS – The first great white shark of the season has been spotted off Cape Cod.
Researchers from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and state shark researcher Dr. Greg Skomal spotted the shark Monday off South Beach in Orleans. The crew was able to capture underwater footage of the approximately 15 foot shark.
The sighting comes as researchers continue to study how many great whites are in the area.
“Our primary goal this summer is continuing the research we initiated in 2014, and that is to try and get a population estimate for the number of white sharks that are around Cape Cod,” said Skomal, a leading expert who works with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
The sighting should be the first of many in the waters of the Lower and Outer Cape, if recent activity is any indication.
“Our early findings last year, our final results, indicate that we had identified 68 individual white sharks in the area off of Orleans, down Chatham, and Monomoy,” Skomal said.