LYE-RS BEWARE! Dumping sodium hydroxide is SAFE..in THEORY! Click below for info!
Please call 774-310-6328 if you have a shark sighting!
Saving Jaws on Martha's Vineyard
Petition Alert!!
CANCEL Sea-SCARE-ium's LEASE...END THEIR LONG REIGN OF ABUSE!
Discover the Truth!
Exposing Reality...
Ocean with sharks.
Ocean without sharks.
Sharks ARE jawsome, but...
None of these sharks are "Man-Eaters". NO sharks are Man-Eaters! Humans are not a food source for any species of shark, and they don't hunt us down. "Jaws" was a movie, total fiction. If you swim in the ocean a lot, you may have come into contact with a shark already, and never even knew it! The video below shows a group of teenaged boys who don't even notice that a massive White shark has decided to join them! (Her behavior is described as clearly predatory, even though she is not circling them, not stalking, and it looks as though she is merely curious and wants to hang out! She doesn't even follow them when they head for shore.) Sharks don't have hands, and their dorsal and pectoral fins (see below) are not long enough to reach out and touch anything. So, much like human toddlers who put everything in their mouths, when curiosity gets the better of them, they use their teeth. There are literally thousands of videos online showing peaceful interactions between sharks and humans!
Chip Michalove of Outcast Fishing..he tags for various different organizations, and..
Chip Michalove of Outcast Fishing..he tags for various different organizations, and..
Chip Michalove of Outcast Fishing..he tags for various different organizations, and..
Does Charter trips as well! Here's one of Chip's many friends!
Chip Michalove of Outcast Fishing..he tags for various different organizations, and..
Chip Michalove of Outcast Fishing..he tags for various different organizations, and..
Fins and their locations on most sharks.
Have You Had a Shark Encounter?
Send us your video and/or your essay about it and we'll feature it on She Shark!
Martha'sVineyard
Most sharks here seem to prefer the south shore of the Island. The beaches all along the bottom part of this map are included in the southern shores. They have the biggest surf, but also the nastiest undertow, and its currents can pull a weak swimmer right under. Lucy Vincent Beach, in Chilmark (bottom left), has clay and sandy cliffs that are filled with shark's teeth, although not as much these days, due to erosion. Megalodon teeth have been found here, so it's clearly been a shark favorite for a while!
Join our mailing list (at the bottom), and get the latest news, sightings, and shark info on sheshark.org! Check back frequently, I update at LEAST once a day.
Thanks y'all!!
Azi~
Right Whales in Cape Cod Bay Need Your Help!
They are down to roughly 350 individuals..because of US.
On Wednesday afternoon (3/29/2023), the Center for Coastal Studies Marine Animal Entanglement Response (MAER) team removed 200 feet of entangling rope from a North Atlantic right whale found in Cape Cod Bay. The whale currently remains entangled. As part of its response, the MAER team outfitted the whale’s remaining wraps with a telemetry tracking buoy and is monitoring information received from the buoy and the weather in the hopes there can be another opportunity for further disentanglement attempts.
Earlier in the day the MAER team came across the badly entangled right whale in the Bay feeding within a large aggregation of right whales. The whale, identified as #4545, is a female who was first discovered entangled south of Nantucket in February. The MAER team could not respond to the whale at that time due to the distance and the lack of daylight. All that could be discerned about her entanglement was that she had a long length of heavy rope caught through her mouth. Since then, the entanglement has developed into a highly complex and lethal one, with multiple wraps around her body and likely also her flippers.
During the MAER team’s Wednesday response, the team removed the 200 feet of very thick rope from her entanglement and attached a small telemetry buoy to facilitate tracking before losing the daylight. The team will be looking for very good weather conditions to attempt what will likely be a difficult and complicated disentanglement. Such conditions are rare this time of year, but the team is hopeful that there will be another opportunity.
Scott Landry, director of MAER said, “this is obviously a difficult situation. We worked very hard for this whale on Wednesday and she did all she could to avoid us. With the telemetry buoy in place on her entanglement all of our attention will be focused on trying again.”
The whale is one of about 350 remaining right whales. Her case highlights the continuing need to find a reduction in the amount of rope in whale habitats. “Whales can pick up gear from anywhere within their range and drag it around for weeks and months. Their range is huge, stretching from Canada to Florida. Using disentanglement as a tool for conservation is helpful but has its limitations. We have no control over when or where an entangled whale will be discovered,” said Landry.
(**note from Azi** We may not know WHERE they picked the gear up, but we do know WHO left it.)
Since 1984, the Center for Coastal Studies has freed more than 200 large whales and other marine animals from life-threatening entanglements using techniques developed by its staff. The Center for Coastal Studies is federally authorized to perform large whale disentanglement under the authority of a permit issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The Center’s disentanglement work is supported by a grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MA-DMF), and the Massachusetts Environmental Trust.
I just want to mention that I actually ask the purser every time if they have seen or had any contact with the right whales. This greatly irritates them, as they are unsure of what they should say. It's SUPER fun!!! I also rescued a sea gull last year, my brothers and I called him/her "Gully".
coastalstudies.org
Beach Safety!
If Sharks are Sighted near the Shore...
Enjoying Vineyard beaches doesn't have to be a frightening experience. She Shark has some tips to make your day enjoyable!
- find a beach that has a life-guard on duty.
- don't wear white or bright neon colors. they show up clearly against the blue background of the ocean.
- those rumors that sharks can smell your blood? untrue! fact: White shatks do not feed on humans, or go hunting specifically to kill and eat humans. we don't even register with them because we are not their prey.
- sharks, some more than others, can be sneaky! make sure you check all directions, and keep moving so sharks think you are also a predator.
- avoid splashing too much. it makes you seem like prey in trouble.
- if you encounter a shark that is acting a bit skittish, look it in the eye and slowly back away and out of the water.
- if you are involved in an attack, try to go for the shark's eyes, snout, or gills. be AGGRESSIVE! sharks are not bears! playing dead won't work. scream, thrash around, and be scary!
- be pro-active: download one of the many apps that have shark trackers, pay attention to signs, listen to lifeguards, and check sheshark.org for information on local beaches.
- sharks are NOT out to get you! they want NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU. you are not on their menu, and most bites are mistaken identity or from feeling threatened or provoked.
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC) on Cape Cod has a free tracker app: https://www.atlanticwhiteshark.org/sharktivity-app
OCEARCH has a live tracker app:
https://exhibit.ocearch.org/tracker/
FAQ
- phytoplankton creates 1/2 of the oxygen we breathe.
- the ocean absorbs 50% of the CO2 and methane we produce.
- we have lost 40% of the plankton in the world's oceans in the last 50 years.
- White sharks are one of the most endangered species, along with Whale sharks.
- Whites have a lateralis nervous system that runs the entire length of their bodies, and includes the "Ampullae of Lorenzini" under their snouts. it is sensitive to electromagnetic fields that prey emit.
- up to 100,000 different species go extinct every year.
- we are in the midst of the biggest CO2 spike in history.
- Over 100 million + sharks are killed every year.
- finning is a barbaric practice where sharks are caught, their fins are cut off, and their carcasses are thrown back into the water to drown. the fins are mainly used in Southeast Asia, especially China, to make Shark Fin Soup, a delicacy ordered to show status and wealth.
- laws have been passed recently so the finning fishermen have to use the entire shark and not throw it back. it is almost impossible to regulate any legislation in the vast oceans of the world. the top finning countries are Spain and Indonesia. the US is #7.
- many shark species take a long time in between pups, making it difficult for them to repopulate quickly.
- White sharks are able to breach, much like Humpback whales. They can reach speeds of up to 25 mph and a height of 10 feet when hunting seals. They are successful 50% of the time.
- shark attacks on humans are rare. there are on average, 140 strikes per year, with only about 6 being fatal, in the world. people are not their preferred food, and most attacks are due to confusion, poor eyesight, overly murky conditions, curiosity, and just wanting us out of their way.
- Whites are apex predators, at the top of the ocean's food chain. Their only natural predator is the Orca. The most devastating is the human.
- if White sharks became extict, it would cause a fatal cascade that would cause the earth's ecosystem to completely collapse. That is how important they are, yet they are still endangered!
Azi..
is from Martha's Vineyard, and currently residing there. The goal of She Shark is to protect the Island's sharks and inspire residents and visitors to fight fear by taking action and getting involved. Conservation and coexistence with our sharks means a healthy ocean, which is vital in maintaining an equally healthy planet. Other stuff: Porbeagles are my favorite species of shark. I am the #MistressOfDistress at #MovieHeretics on Twitter, Thursday nights. I am 100% #ManxUnited! (That's mine, Treble, in the pic. :)) I'm a musician, and writer/research nerd. Have a science degree I don't use much. VERY fluent in sarcasm/sharkasm. You can find me on social media, below.