Anybody Besides Me A Little UNrelaxed Thinking About Taking A Relaxing Dip In The Atlantic Ocean During ‘Shark Season’?
Several huge sharks have been spotted near New York, New Jersey, and Cape Cod. Field & Stream Magazine recently quoted , OCEARCH founder and shark researcher Chris Fischer as saying “The moment you’re 3-feet in the ocean, you’re in the wild, and you’ve taken a risk.” 3 FEET??? That sounded very ‘UNrelaxing’.
I decided to put out an SOS for MY ‘Shark Guy” Dr. Gregory Skomal to call me so we could…’discuss’ just how UNrelaxed we should be at the beach this year.
‘Greg’ physically tags Great White Sharks for a living. He’s the Senior Fisheries Scientist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and currently heads up the Massachusetts Shark Research Program (MSRP). If there’s a TV Shark Show, Dr. Gregory Skomal is usually in it. This is a guy who saw the movie ‘Jaws’ as a kid and couldn’t wait to get back in the water. As opposed to most of the rest of us who saw ‘Jaws’ and never relaxed on a float in any body of water again.
Luckily ‘Shark Guy’ arrived and shared really good news for beachgoers in NY & NJ. He said, “The chances of getting bitten by a shark in these areas are really low – pretty much non existent.” However he did say, up near Cape Cod near the outer Cape, white sharks are hunting seals close to shore, so people probably don’t want to go in past their shoulders. (Keep in mind wet suits resemble seals in the water. Why they don’t make them in bright yellow or plaid I’ll never know.)
You can follow Dr. Gregory Skomal as he follows all the Great White Sharks and now you can also follow the sharks yourself. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, created an app called “Sharktivity”.
PS Dr. Gregory Skomal’s shark research has spanned multiple fish habitats around the globe. He’s written dozens of scientific research papers and has appeared in a number of film and television documentaries, including programs for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, ESPN, and numerous television networks. Greg’s most recent book, The Shark Handbook,is a must buy for all shark enthusiasts.
PPS You’ll notice at the very beginning of this live radio show recording (podcast) of our conversation I’m talking about avocado robbers not sharks. ‘Greg’ got held up and since I was doing this show remotely, I had no idea if he was even going to show up – so I started talking about avocados? Whatever. We’re warm pals so he was worth waiting for.
