Sharks spotted off Cape Cod ahead of Memorial Day weekend: ‘Right on schedule for when they start showing up’

Here they come again.

Just as Cape Cod visitors pack their bags for the unofficial start of summer, the great white sharks are back looking for food.

Massachusetts shark biologist John Chisholm reported seeing two white sharks off Chatham in recent days, as he urges beachgoers to be “shark smart.”

“This is right on schedule for when they start showing up,” Chisholm told the Herald on Thursday ahead of the busy holiday weekend.

“Within the past 48 hours, everything has been picking up,” he added. “Right around Memorial Day, people start paying attention with the kickoff to summer.”

There has been plenty of food attracting sharks to the Cape. That includes big seal haulouts along Chatham’s Monomoy Island, as well as a dead minke whale off Chatham.

That dead whale had a shark bite, Chisholm reported.

“The whale was already dead before the shark started feeding on it,” he added.

“If this was later in the season, there’d be so many sharks around the whale,” Chisholm said. “It’s a really big food opportunity for them.”

Plenty of shark food on Monomoy today. These big haulouts usually start spreading out this time of year which is also when shark numbers start to increase. Caught a glimpse of 2 white sharks but wasn’t able to get photos. pic.twitter.com/0vJq472FJ7

— MA Sharks (@MA_Sharks) May 22, 2024

Chisholm — with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life — emphasized the importance of being aware of sharks’ presence in shallow waters, avoiding areas where seals are present or schools of fish are visible, and staying close to shore where emergency responders can reach you if needed.

“We always try to make people aware that the sharks are here, and you got to be shark smart,” Chisholm said.

The public can report sightings and stay informed on shark activity through the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.

AWSC’s Sharktivity app provides information and push notifications for alerts regarding white shark sightings, detections and movements. The app sightings are input by researchers, safety officials and users that upload photos for confirmation.

“The return of white sharks is a sure sign of summer’s approach on Cape Cod,” said Cynthia Wigren, president and co-founder of AWSC.

“Citizen scientists play a crucial role in the Conservancy’s mission to educate the community and improve public safety, and we rely upon and value their sighting data reported through our Sharktivity app,” Wigren added.

The AWSC, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, will be deploying five buoy-based shark detection receivers in the coming weeks, part of a network of detector buoys along the East Coast. At the end of the season, the data will be collected and uploaded to Sharktivity.