Need a Bigger Boat: 17 Great White Sharks Spotted Off Cape Cod

As Brody suggested in “Jaws,” you’re going to need a bigger boat.

Seventeen—count ‘em, 17— great white sharks were spotted by researchers off Cape Cod near Chatham this week:

One of the sharks was the same one recorded eating a seal in the same area last month:

The seal population on Cape Cod has been increasing in recent months, drawing the sharks to the area. There have been no shark attacks on humans so far this summer on the Cape.

However, government-funded rescuers last month captured a dramatic encounter off Provincetown as they freed a humpback whale tangled in fishing line while a great white circled and actually attacked the whale. Also last month, a great white that beached itself in Chatham was rescued.

The last great white shark attack on a human in Massachusetts was In 2012, when a great white bit a man on the leg off the coast of Truro.

As safety measure, state officials earlier this year announced new permitting requirements for companies involved in great white tourism activities like cage diving.

Summer 2015 Great White Shark Encounters on Cape Cod

• Great White Shark Vs. Humpback Whale Off Provincetown
• Footage Shows Daring Great White Shark Rescue in Chatham
• Cape Cod Man Bitten By Shark Lives to Tell Tale
• First Great White Shark Sighting of Summer 2015 on Cape Cod

Photo credit: ScottS101 via Flickr