Record Day: 17 Great White Sharks Spotted Off Cape Cod

By JASON CLAFFEY (Patch Staff)

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

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

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 agreat white bit a man on the leg off the coast of Truro.

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

Information and Photo Credit: Atlantic White Shark Conservancy