Beach-goers fears erupt as great white shark sightings soar in area made famous by Jaws

Great white shark numbers are increasing in the part of the world which made the predator famous with the iconic movie Jaws. Numbers of the apex ocean-going predator have soared in recent years around Maine, Massachusetts, New England and into southern Canadian waters. The monsters of the deep are also regularly found in waters off North Carolina, Florida and other southern states.

Great white sharks shot to worldwide notoriety after the classic 1975 Steven Spielberg film Jaws catapulted the creature into the global collective consciousness as a nightmare lurking in the depths waiting to devour swimmers and sailors. Although the location for the film, Amity Island, was fictional, the movie was shot on and around Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Now, marine researchers have revealed that great white numbers have more than doubled in that region, driven by protections for their prey, seals, and by warmer conditions caused by climate change. Great white attacks are rare, but in places like Australia where surfers and swimmers enjoy warmer waters, there have been 17 interactions with humans so far this year, with three attacks resulting in fatalities. A surfer named Brad narrowly escaped death this month after a 13-foot-long beast took a bite out of his board.

David Lancaster, a commercial clam digger in Scarborough, Maine, used a drone to get a look at an approximately 12-foot (3.6-meter) shark near the town’s famed beaches earlier this month. He described the animal as “magnificent” and “really amazing” to see. But he also said the shark's presence reminded him that swimmers need to look out for the big fish.

Sightings of great whites off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, have become increasingly frequent in recent years, and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has documented hundreds of the animals over more than a decade. But new data shows the sharks are heading even farther north into New Hampshire, Maine and beyond, said Greg Skomal, a senior fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries and a veteran white shark researcher.

The number of white sharks detected off Halifax, Nova Scotia, increased about 2.5 times from 2018 to 2022, according to a paper published by Skomal and others in May in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. Even farther north, the number detected in the Cabot Strait that separates Nova Scotia and Newfoundland increased nearly four times over, the paper said.

Skomal said the average residency in these northern waters has also increased from 48 days to 70 days, suggesting that white sharks appear to be increasingly comfortable farther north.

A key reason for the shift seems to be the successful conservation of seals off New England and Canada via laws such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which has allowed seals to thrive and provide a food source for the predatory sharks, Skomal said.

Great white sharks also benefit from protections, including a ban on fishing for them in US federal waters that has stood since 1997. They are still considered vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The first recorded fatal shark attack in Maine happened in 2020 when a great white shark killed 63-year-old Julie Dimperio Holowach off Bailey Island.

Ashleigh Novak, research coordinator with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, said: "It’s an exceedingly rare event. But we’re providing all of this information to mitigate human behavior and hopefully reduce any negative encounters between humans and sharks."

Mr Lancaster, who also enjoys surfing when not fishing for clams, said living with great whites is just something people in New England are going to have to adjust to.

He added: “It's crazy that they are around, as fishermen and surfers, and something we have to accept. It's in the back of your head, but you have to accept it.”

Female white sharks mature at 4.5 metres to 5 metres in length, males at 3.5 metres to 4 metres. Females grow larger than males and exceptional individuals can reach over 20 feet in length.

Adult sharks can weigh more than two tonnes, the equivalent of two Ford Fiestas.

The oldest captured great white was estimated to be over 70 years old, and scientists believe they could live even longer.

Hunting great whites can reach speeds of more than 34mph in the water and they can propel themselves several feet into the air if performing a strike on prey, such as a seal.

Mature great white sharks have almost no natural predators in the wild, except for killer whales which have been documented to hunt and kill the species in order to feast on their nutrient rich livers.