Local Expert To Talk Great White Shark Sightings

BRIDGEHAMPTON, NY — After a great white shark explosion in the waters off Montauk, a local expert is set to share information on recent sightings.

The South Fork Natural History Museum's Shark Research and Education Program will host a talk by Greg Metzger, the program’s chief field and education coordinator, on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 10:30 a.m. at the museum, located at 377 Bridgehampton /Sag Harbor Turnpike in Bridgehampton.

During his presentation, Metzger will discuss the latest news on Long Island’s white shark study and SOFO’s Shark Research and Education Program, SOFO said.

The museum’s newly installed interactive shark exhibit, seen in conjunction with Metzger’s talk, will enable those who attend to learn, in depth through photographs and a virtual shark-tagging experience, about the shark species found in the North Atlantic, their ecology, and Metzger’s team’s research methods and the scientific studies these methods produce.

Metzger, a marine biologist, also teaches marine science at Southampton High School and has been shark fishing off the Long Island coast for more than 10 years.

“The 2018 field season found us capturing exciting underwater footage using a 360 camera,” said Metzger. “I am thrilled to be able to share some highlights at this event.”

The South Fork Natural History Museum has been studying the white sharks found along Long Island’s south shore for the last four years, a release said. Museum scientists have put a great deal of emphasis on capturing, tagging, and releasing young-of-the-year individuals to track their movements, as the south shore of Long Island, off Montauk, is home to the only known nursery for juvenile sharks in the North Atlantic Ocean.

There is much to discover about the movements of “great whites” — as they are often called — at this early stage of life, since there is little data on the topic, the museum said.

This program is intended for adults and teens, but those 12 years of age and older may attend. The presentation is free to SOFO members. For non-members, the fee is $15 for adults, and $10 for children 3 to 12. The program fee also includes admission to the museum on any day of your choosing. Advance registration is required. Please call the museum at 631-537-9735 or email sofo@hamptons.com to reserve a spot or if you have any questions.

Shark assurances

During the summer of 2018, despite a shark sighting in a bay in the Hamptons and reports of two kids bitten by sharks off Fire Island, experts said it's still very, very safe to go in the water.

Two kids at lifeguarded Fire Island Beaches reported bite injuries in July; the two were reportedly bitten in the waters at Sailors Haven and Atlantique.

Social media was also buzzing after what was believed to be either a blue shark or a mako shark was spotted in the bay at the Shinnecock Inlet commercial fishing dock.

But despite a public stir and sea of social media comments, Metzger said there's no cause for concern.

First off, Metzger said, despite concerns expressed by the public, he does not believe there are any more sharks in local waters than in the last four years.

However, because people are now taking a flood of photos and videos and then, sending them to news outlets or posting them on social media, there is a perception of an increased presence.

"Certainly, from my research and time on the water, we're not seeing an overabundant increase in sharks this year," he said. "I think it's the result of people being aware of sharks and taking videos and photos. We're getting more news about shark encounters because people are more aware."

The high-profile news stories about the two kids bitten by sharks sparked new fears, he said.

However, Metzger said, statistics indicate that a tally of shark attacks in New York, maintained for more than 100 years, there have been only 13, with three fatal over that entire time period — including the two most recent bites off Fire Island.

"If you think of the number of people in New York in the water over 100 years, billions, of those billions only 13 have been negatively impacted by a shark. The statistics show that the numbers of encounters are so infinitesimally small, it's not even worth considering," he said.

As for the shark sighting in Hampton Bays at the fishing pier, Metzger said the shark has been positively identified as a mako shark, not a blue shark.

"Although it's not commonplace to see a shark in the bay, it's also not such a ridiculously rare occurrence, either," Metzger said. "We've had confirmed pictures and accounts of people surfcasting for bluefish and striped bass in the Shinnecock Bay who have caught small mako sharks."

He added, "The fact that a mako shark of that size was directly in back of the Shinnecock Inlet is a little unusual but not anything catastrophic, or to get really excited about."

According to Chris Fischer, founder of OCEARCH, which has led expeditions off Montauk to tag sharks found in a nursery in the Atlantic Ocean in recent years, it was a bit "unusual for a blue shark to be inshore like that." The sharks, he said, are typically found offshore, as they are pelagic fish.

If the shark was "tight to the beach" or to a dock, "there was likely something wrong with it," Fischer said, adding that he agreed there was no cause for concern. "They are harmless small fish eaters."

Many commented on social media that the shark likely traveled from the ocean to the bay through the Shinnecock Inlet, following food.

Author and charter boat Capt. Tom Mikoleski, of Grand Slam Charters in Montauk, said shark sightings are not at all out of the norm on the East End this summer. "We're seeing a lot of sharks here right now," he said. Just Wednesday morning, Mikoleski said he saw a thresher shark in Montauk right off the Lighthouse. The blue shark in Hampton Bays, some say, might have followed a fisherman cleaning his catch into the inlet.

"There's just a lot of bait in the water — and sharks like to eat," Mikoleski said.

The sea of public information and widespread shark terror kicked off with the movie"Jaws," Metzger said, and has been kept alive by misinformation.

Sharks have made headlines on Long Island in recent years.

Great white shark researchers discovered the first North Atlantic nursery for the fearsome predator in the waters off Montauk in 2016 — explaining the recent surge in great white sharks around nearby Cape Cod.

The OCEARCH team said it tracked nine infant great whites to the nursery, located a few miles off Montauk.

"This is a historical moment and the first step in revealing the great white shark pupping ground," Fischer said in a statement. "It's this kind of scientific data that will help us collectively make more informed decisions about how to protect this incredible species."

The leading shark research team launched a tagging expedition to be able to determine potential birthing sites.

"You guys are sitting in a birthing area," Fischer told Patch in an interview. "My best guess would be that the large mature females are coming in during May and June and dropping off their pups in New York, New Jersey and on Long Island — out to Montauk."

The female sharks will drop off the pups and leave, he said.

After looking at a scientific paper authored by Jack Casey and Wes Pratt, and another by Tobey Curtis, lead scientist and fisheries manager at NOAA Fisheries, the OCEARCH team caught pups in two separate expeditions, lifting them up onto the ship, and performing research projects including taking gas, blood and tissue samples.

New umbilical scars on the pups indicated that the area off Montauk was, indeed, a birthing site, Fischer said, with the pups one to three months old.

Now that the pups are being tracked, a whole new age of discovery has evolved, Fisher said. "Now we are watching the young of the year, watching them define the nursery of the great white shark."

That first year, he explained, is when the pups are most vulnerable. Once they're larger and older, they can avoid various types of gear and danger.

No reason to panic

But the news isn't reason to panic: Experts agree that swimmers have a greater danger of being killed while driving on the Long Island Expressway than being devoured by a shark.

According to OCEARCH Chief Operating Officer Fernanda Ubatuba, shark attacks on humans are extremely rare — the odds are about one in 12 million. Most shark attack victims survive; bites on humans by sharks are normally exploratory.

Worldwide, 200,000 sharks are killed per day; in contrast, about 10 to 12 human lives are lost yearly as a result of shark attacks, researchers told Patch.

Sharks, experts agree, are far less of a danger to people than mankind is to sharks.

"You have more risk of dying by a defective toaster or driving a car than a shark attack, but it's perception," Ubatuba said.

There are few shark attacks worldwide, Ubatuba said.

Instead, sharks are victims: Sharks are at great risk worldwide due to an industry in Asia and other areas that rely heavily on shark skinning. "It's wiping out our oceans completely," she said.

As apex predators of the ocean, sharks are critical to maintaining healthy ocean systems.
"The current problem we face in shark conservation is that we do not have the necessary data to understand the migratory patterns of our ocean's apex predators, mating and birth sites — the locations we need to protect," an OCEARCH Kickstarter site said.

Ubatuba said the goal is to connect people from New York to the ocean, to make them aware of what's going on in Montauk, Southampton and across Long Island, "to bring more data so we can really understand what is going on in the waters of New York."

It's important to replace "fear with facts," Ubatuba said. By using an OCEARCH shark tracker, beach-goers can use that information to "make the best judgment when to go to beach and when to avoid it."

Why Long Island is fertile ground for sharks

Long Island is a good place for breeding because, as in other areas of the world where great white sharks breed, the topography includes protected areas, with its shape including bays, said Ubatuba. In addition, food resources and fish bring the sharks "to a safe region to drop their pups," she added.

It's important to determine birthing sites to keep them safe; sharks do not become sexually mature until they are 20 years old. "It takes a long time," she said.

Joe Yaiullo, curator and co-founder of the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center, said shark sightings are actually a good thing. "With them being the apex of the food chain, if they're here, it's a good thing for humans," Yaiullo explained. "People shouldn't think that more sharks in the water mean they're going to be attacked. That's not the case at all."

Sharks are a sign of a healthy ecosystem with plentiful fish, clean water and less pollution, an indicator that the United States is doing a good job of managing its fisheries, he said.

Gone are the days of old Montauk tournaments, when sharks were caught, hung from the dock and weighed, then thrown into dumpsters, said Yaiullo. Today's tournaments are tag-and-release events, he said.

He agreed sharks are at risk worldwide. "It's important to spread a conservation message," Yaiullo said. "Not eating shark fin soup, or engaging in all these bad practices. We humans kill a hundred million sharks every year, for shark teeth and jaws. We're doing much more damage to them than they are to us. And if they are doing well, we are doing well."

Photo credit: Atlantic White Shark Conservancy