Researchers have discovered a “dramatic increase” in the number of great white sharks swimming in Monterey Bay in recent years, including an area near Santa Cruz County where a surfer was killed last year, according to a new study published Tuesday.
Young great white sharks – younger animals that are between 5 and 9 feet long – that were traditionally concentrated in warm waters in northern Mexico and Southern California have moved north since 2014 as water temperatures warmed, the study found. the study.
Where young white sharks were once spotted in the ocean between Manresa State Beach in Aptos and New Brighton State Beach in Capitola, dozens are now seen every year, according to research by scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Duke University and California State University Long Beach. They swim there in groups between April and October, sometimes within a few feet of the shoreline and other features such as the ‘Cement Ship’, a derelict boat in front of a pier at Seacliff State Beach. The sharks have been regularly photographed swimming near people, who often have no idea that the powerful creatures are so close.
“I’ve seen sharks among the surfers – just a few feet away,” said Chris Gularte, lead pilot at Specialized Helicopters, a Watsonville tour company that regularly flies over the area. “When the water is warm and they come into the bay, you can see them swimming with people all day long. Stand-up paddlers and kayakers will go straight to them and not realize they are there. “
Gularte said he has not seen sharks from his helicopter at more famous surf spots in Santa Cruz, such as Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz or Pleasure Point at Capitola. He said he has seen more and more sharks at the mouth of the Salinas River and in San Francisco Bay.
In a tragic interaction last May, 26-year-old Santa Cruz surfer Ben Kelly was bitten about 100 yards off shore at Manresa State Beach in Aptos. The bite occurred behind his right knee, hit an artery and bled to death. A study by state wildlife biologists found that the shark was at least 3 feet long, larger than the juveniles that usually gather a few miles north.
Investigators said on Tuesday that such attacks are rare. The influx of young sharks into Northern California, they said, is indicative of major changes in the ocean that are underway as a result of climate changes affecting many species.
“What’s going on here has been very strange and different and unusual and not what we are used to,” said Kyle van Houtan, chief scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “Monterey Bay is famous for cold water, kelp, otters, anchovies and whales. One thing that hasn’t been here is juvenile white sharks. But that has changed completely in the past five years. “
In Southern California, scientists tagged 53 young great white sharks with transmitters last year, said Chris Lowe, a marine biologist at Cal State Long Beach. The tags send a signal when they approach four special buoys for Santa Barbara, Huntington Beach, Long Beach and San Clemente, and lifeguards on the beach receive a text message to warn them that sharks are nearby.
Lowe said he is working with officials at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to try to establish a similar system from Seacliff State Beach to New Brighton State Beach, an area that locals are increasingly referring to as “ Shark Park. ”
He noted that great white sharks generally avoid humans, and when they bite someone, it is almost never a sustained attack. It’s a one-time bite, and then they leave.
“We really don’t know what motivates the sharks when these things happen,” he said. “At best, we think the shark made a mistake – they thought they were going after a fish or a seal.”
After they are born, great white sharks stay in warm waters near the coast to feed on fish, rays and squid, said Sal Jorgensen, a marine researcher at UC Santa Cruz and co-author of the study, which was published in Scientific. Reports, a peer-reviewed journal from the publishers of Nature.
After two or three years, they grow taller than 3 meters and swim to deeper, colder waters. Their teeth widen and become more jagged. They reach sizes of 5 to 5 meters in length and eat sea lions and other marine mammals, often in colder waters in places such as the Farallon Islands.
The “shark farms” where they grow were mostly south of Santa Barbara County. But after the Pacific Ocean off the west coast warmed significantly in an event known as “the Blob” in 2014, warmer conditions moved north, the scientists found. The warm conditions endured the 2015-16 and 2018-19 El Niño events and continue today.
Tyler Fox, a professional surfer who has surfed in the Aptos area for years, said he has noticed a change.
“People are seeing them more and more in the water there,” said Fox, publisher of Santa Cruz Waves magazine. “A few of my buddies swam within three meters once. The frequency of encounters has certainly increased. “
Fox said surfers he knows didn’t return to the Manresa Beach area after Kelly’s death. But now, especially in the colder months, when the sharks aren’t thought to be around, surfers have returned. He said he surfed there on Sunday.
“There are always coincidental situations, but I believe they roam around in that particular zone, hang out and get warm,” he said. “They are not in hunt mode. They don’t come at you like you see in Jaws with a fin coming straight at you. I think it is pretty safe. “
