NOVA SCOTIA (WHDH) – Great whites are the most feared of all the sharks in the sea.
Researchers and scientists with the group OCEARCH are working to change their reputation from man-eaters to a vital part of the ocean. They also want to unlock some of the mysteries of these predators of the sea.
Dr. Bob Hueter is the chief scientist on this OCEARCH expedition.
He says: “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle where you have some of the pieces on the table, some are connected, but most are loose.”
To link pieces of the puzzle, OCEARCH is on a three-week expedition off Nova Scotia with two dozen researchers to study sharks’ migrating and mating habits.
But to study the sharks, they have to catch them first.
Once on a line, the shark is brought to the side of the research vessel and lifted out of the water on a platform.
A towel is carefully placed over the sharks’ eyes. A hose with flowing seawater is put in its mouth to keep it alive. Researchers take blood and tissue samples. Then, they attach a satellite tag to the shark’s dorsal fin.
“We give ourselves 15 minutes, to take a variety of samples and finally having the shark swim off,” says Dr. Bob Hueter, the mission’s chief scientist.
Researchers believe some of the Great Whites that are off Cape Cod have come here to Nova Scotia to mate. They know because they’ve tagged sharks off the Cape that have been tracked to Nova Scotia.
In July 2017, 47 Great Whites were spotted by a marine biologist. This past July, 149 were counted. Why so many more?
One reason, researchers say a ban of certain nets in the 1990s meant to prevent overfishing from Long Island to the Carolinas had another effect. It prevented juvenile great whites from being inadvertently caught.
Chris Fischer is the chairman of OCEARCH.
“Unbeknownst to us, we got those gill nets out, out of the white shark nursery, about 20 years later you see more white sharks showing up off Cape Cod and Canada,” he says.
And gray seals, once hunted, are now federally protected. A recent study shows as many as 50 thousand are in the waters off southeastern Massachusetts.
And they’re all sending a giant signal to the sharks.
“They stink. They’re urinating, defecating, they’re bleeding,” says Fischer. “And if a shark is in the region, they’re gonna get used to finding that.”
This summer, there were two people bitten by great whites. One man survived; another did not.
“Maybe at some point, a discussion has to start so seals can be controlled in some way, ” says Hueter. “That could be simply harassing the seals, getting them away from where people are found.”
Research shows sharks are vital to balancing the food chain in the ocean. Several species would be wiped out if they disappeared.
Scientists hope their expedition — to find out why great whites choose Cape Cod and Canada — will shine more light on this mystery of the ocean.
The OCEARCH team plans an expedition off Cape Cod next summer, they’ll study migrating and mating habits of great whites.
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