Juvenile great white shark ‘Martha’ cruises in the Chesapeake Bay
A 7-foot juvenile great white shark pinged off the coast of Hampton Roads Thursday evening, cruising parallel to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel as she heads north for the summer.
Martha, who was tagged on Aug. 13, 2020, by the Ocearch marine research organization, surfaced around 7:15 p.m., prompting a satellite to ping her general location. A ping happens when the shark’s dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water.
Martha has not resurfaced since but a spokesperson for Ocearch said she is likely heading up to New England to hunt seals before the winter.
“White sharks spend the summer and fall fattening up on seals before making their way south. It is similar to a hibernation, so they can go with minimal food through the winter,” said spokesperson Paige Finney.
When the New England water temperatures become too frigid for white sharks, they travel south — sometimes as south as the Gulf of Mexico, Finney said.
Ocearch, a nonprofit group doing research on large marine animals including great white sharks, launched its shark tracker app in 2012 to allow people to observe the movements of sharks around the world.
Martha was tagged near Cape Cod in the summer of 2020 as part of the Ocearch Massachusetts expedition. According to Martha’s ping history, she typically spends her summers in New England and her winters off the Carolinas.
“But she likes Virginia and North Carolina,” Finney said, noting that Martha has surfaced just off the coast of Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks several times over the past two years.
The Ocearch travel log shows Martha off Hampton Roads around early December 2020 and again in late November 2021. Martha has had recurring pings off the Outer Banks in November through December and March through May each year she has been tracked.
Expedition teams have tagged 84 great white sharks along the East Coast. At an estimated 50 years of age, Nukumi is believed to the oldest shark Ocearch is tracking. Nukumi, an adult female great white shark, pinged just off from the Outer Banks several times from November 2020 to February 2021 before disappearing beneath the surface in April 2021.
At a staggering 17 feet in length and 3,541 pounds, Nukumi dwarfs Martha, who is not yet considered an adult.
Martha’s exact age is unknown, but Finney said Ocearch scientists determined she was a juvenile based on her size, as well as her movement patterns.
“We know the white shark breeding area is around New York and New Jersey. As we track juveniles like Martha, we can see those babies moving from New England to the Carolina area,” Finney said. “Eventually they will expand their travel up to Nova Scotia or Newfoundland and sometimes down south to the Gulf of Mexico.”
The dorsal fin tag lasts an average of five years, which means Ocearch has around three more years left to track Martha.
Caitlyn Burchett, 727-267-6059, caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com
