CHATHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - A white shark got up close and personal with an underwater camera off the coast of Chatham last Friday.
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy posted a video of the shark as it swam toward the camera.
Six white sharks were spotted last Friday, including two annual visitors — Scratchy, who was tagged in 2015, and James, who was tagged in 2014.
On Monday, researchers saw at least 11 great white sharks in Cape Cod Bay.
With the Fourth of July just around the corner and temperatures rising, the beaches are packed with people looking to cool off.
Many of these beachgoers are being greeted with signs warning them to be vigilant following the uptick in shark sightings.
“I’m not that worried because I know that they don’t kill that much people a year,” said Makenna Marcum, who is visiting with her family. “So, I don’t have a likely chance of dying.”
Even though the sharks are out there, officials at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy say they are not hungry for human flesh.
“If they bite into something and realize it’s not food, they usually release and then swim off,” said Marianne Long of the AWSC. “You know, a person is not a shark’s diet. Especially when we are looking at these white sharks, they want something larger and something with blubber.”
Residents say they are aware of the increased risk especially when seals are present.
“Since the early 90s, the seal population has increased and now of course with that naturally come the great white sharks,” said Diane Miller, who lives in the area. “They’re getting closer to shore and now that we have one on the inner beach, I think that is cause for concern.”
A shark killed a 26-year-old Revere man in Wellfleet last September. It was the first fatal shark attack in the Bay State in 82 years.
Last year, buoys in Marshfield designed to pick up signals from tagged sharks detected nine great whites 299 times.
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