White shark 'ping' near Rye beach sparks curiosity; Experts say encounters rare in NH
Jul. 1—After a thousand-mile swim, a 9-foot great white shark named after a notorious female pirate in the 1700s was located off the Rye coast last week, sparking renewed interest in white shark activity in New Hampshire waters.
Anne Bonny, who was tagged by researchers off North Carolina two months ago, was pinged by a satellite last week less than one nautical mile from Jenness State Beach in Rye.
The 9-foot, 3-inch juvenile shark made it all the way to the Bay of Fundy off Eastport, Maine, before backtracking to the New Hampshire coast, according to tracking data from Ocearch, a global nonprofit research organization.
The information on the shark's whereabouts is good to know, but nothing to panic about, several marine experts say. The data did not spark any kind of alerts or warnings at the state beach.
"These animals are naturally on our coast from May to October," said Brian Yurasits, the Seacoast Science Center marine mammal rescue community outreach manager. The group works with the University of New Hampshire and other agencies doing great white shark research.
More great white sightings along the New England coast — and a fatal attack in Harpswell, Maine, in July 2020 — have brought more attention to the creatures in recent years. A shark attack, however, has never been documented in the waters of New Hampshire, at least since records started being kept in 1837.
Typically, white sharks tracked by Ocearch tend to linger around Cape Cod or head farther north, said Bob Hueter, chief scientist. About half the sharks they track bypass Cape Cod completely.
"It is certainly not shocking or surprising," he said of the ping in Rye. "It is interesting. It is confirmation that the coast here has the kind of water quality these kinds of animals are looking for, which is good."
The tagging technology used by Ocearch transmits a signal when the animal breaks the surface. Anne Bonny was tagged on April 21 off the shore of Ocracoke, North Carolina.
Earlier this month, the Seacoast Science Center worked with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy to confirm a seal found near Hampton Beach was killed by a white shark.
Greg Skomal, senior fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, said sharks tend to migrate as far north as Newfoundland.
Skomal also works with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, which detected two sharks off North Hampton Beach, one off Foss Beach in Rye and two off the Isles of Shoals last year. The group tracks the sharks with receivers placed throughout the Gulf of Maine, including seven in New Hampshire waters.
"They are seeking more rich areas where there is higher density of harbor porpoise, dolphins and seals," he said.
Warmer waters are not necessarily the reason for more white sharks, but scientists are looking at the impact of climate change in their research.
Seals, a staple of the shark's diet, have been increasing in numbers since almost being eradicated from the northwest Atlantic before protections were established in the 1970s.
Other protections put in place in the mid-1990s, including a prohibition on the capture of white sharks, also helped stabilize the white shark population.
The number of great whites is only expected to continue to increase.
"What we are seeing today is the return of a healthy ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine," Yurasits said. "Seal and sharks have come back from the brink, essentially. So the question we are now ultimately faced with today is: How do we share the shores with these animals and continue to support 50 years of conservation efforts to bring these animals back?"
The reaction
Last Monday, Ocearchannounced Anne Bonny's appearance on social media with the simple words: "Be advised."
Jenness Beach is a popular spot for swimming and surfing.
Yurasits himself is a surfer.
"It's been the talk of the town over the past week," he said. "A lot of people that I surf with and spend time with in the community have been asking about it. I've been seeing it all over Facebook with people asking questions."
One mother who posted on Facebook worried about the ping.
"Awesome. Guess where the kids were surfing this morning? In the rainy fog. Dressed like seals," she wrote. "Off to refill the anxiety meds..."
Her instinct was right, as most shark attacks are the result of mistaken identity.
"People should not get their information from 'Jaws' and think this is a big 20-foot shark that has come in and set up shop on this beach and is waiting for people to come into the water," Hueter said. "It is complete fiction."
The research organizations promote precautions such as not swimming alone, avoiding murky water, seals and schools of fish, and limiting splashes.
"It is great to be proactive and consider their presence when we are using the waters, while also recognizing attacks are exceedingly rare," said Nathan Furey, assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of New Hampshire.
Ocearchs's motto is "Facts over fear."
The Seacoast Science Center, which has received an uptick in questions about sharks since Anne Bonny's appearance, subscribes to the same philosophy.
"It's like when you are driving, you wear your seatbelt, right?" Yurasits said. "When we enter the water, we need to know we are entering the home of these animals that live there this time of year and there are these certain precautions you can take to limit your chances of encountering them."
The tracking
Hueter described Anne Bonny as "kind of a teenager, if you will" when she was tagged. Female white sharks don't reach adulthood until they are about 14 feet long, he said.
"She may have been working schools of smaller fish like herring, which may have brought her down to that area," Hueter said.
Yurasits and his team at the Seacoast Science Center don't do hands-on research with white sharks. Rather, they share data with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy on deceased mammals found on the shore. On average, the group sees two to three a year between New Hampshire and Essex, Mass.
"What we are really trying to learn more about is: Is New Hampshire a place where they stop and hang out or is it a place where they are passing through on their journeys?" he said.
Last year, Rye Fire and Rescue worked with several agencies to place "shark buoys" in four coastal locations to track the activity of tagged sharks. The data is only collected at the end of the season. Between July 7 and Nov. 28 of last year, one shark was detected — a 12-foot white nicknamed "Rocinante" — at the Foss Beach receiver.
"It tells me these animals don't spend any time here," Skomal said.
The population of white sharks in the Gulf of Maine peaks in August, September and October, said Furey.
The tracking is important.
"Any time you decide to move from point A to point B, that is a behavior," he said. "And that can really give insight as to what is the decision that animal is making or what is impacting its behavior. That allows us to link it to environmental conditions or food availability."
For more information go to seagrant.unh.edu/shark-safety-facts-new-hampshire.
For more information go to seagrant.unh.edu/shark-safety-facts-new-hampshire.
