Weekend Read: NY's Atlantic Coast a Possible 'Breeding Ground' For Great White Sharks, Experts Say

By LISA FINN (Patch Staff) 

Ever since the blood-curdling screams of an ill-fated skinny dipper, who met her famous demise in the opening scene of "Jaws," generations of beach-goers have approached the water with bone-chilling trepidation.
Now, a leading shark research team has said it suspects that the Atlantic Ocean waters off Long Island might be a breeding ground for great whites and has launched a tagging expedition to be able to determine potential birthing sites.

But the news isn't reason to panic: Experts agree that swimmers have a greater danger of being killed by a faulty toaster oven — or driving on the Long Island Expressway, for that matter — than being devoured by a shark.
According to OCEARCH Chief Operating Officer Fernanda Ubatuba — OCEARCH is a nonprofit organization dedicated to shark research — if you look at a global shark tracker, five mature female great white sharks have been tagged in the past three to four years, and it seems that "there is certain activity in that region."
Great white sharks, she said, travel from Florida to Canada, "and you can see their activity sometimes overlaps around Long Island."
OCEARCH has launched a Kickstarter campaign to tag and research great white sharks in the North Atlantic; that research might help to investigate sample sites and ultimately determine definite breeding sites off the coast, Ubatuba said.
The team will tag juvenile great whites in New York waters, the campaign site says.
Technology utilized by OCEARCH aims to allow people to see, in real time, "breeding and mating sites for the first time in history. It's amazing," she said.
Sharks, experts agree, are far less of a danger to people than mankind is to sharks.
Worldwide, 200,000 sharks are killed per day, or up to 100 million every year. "That's a stunning number," Ubatuba said.
In contrast, about 10 to 12 human lives are lost yearly as a result of shark attacks. "You have more risk of dying by a defective toaster or driving a car than a shark attack, but it's perception," she 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," the Kickstarter site says.
The breeding sites "are being discovered for the first time," Ubatuba said. It's necessary to judge at least two breeding sites to determine what they have in common and what draws the sharks there, she added.
Ubatuba said the goal of the Kickstarter is to connect people from New York to the ocean, to make them aware of what's going on in the Atlantic, "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 the shark tracker, beach-goers can use that information to "make the best judgment when to go to beach and when to avoid it."
Why the New York Atlantic coast 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.
"We're not on the menu"

Joe Yaiullo, curator and co-founder of the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center, said there are precautions swimmers can take, such as not going into the water at dawn or dusk when bait fish, such as bunker, are being fed upon. "Avoiding that situation is always wise," he said.

IMAGE VIA SHUTTERSTOCK

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