There has been quite a lot of buzz lately of sharks popping up off of the coast of the South Jersey shore! It begs the question, “should we be afraid or excited?” A quick Google Search for “number of shark attacks in the United States” will tell you that on average 19 people are attacked by sharks each year in this country with a fatality every two years.
Now that we have the stats out of the way, let’s get excited! Mary Lee, a 3500 lb, 16 foot long great white shark, is being tracked by OCEARCH. Every time her fin peaks out of the water a record is captured of her location. You can even track Mary Lee on Twitter – she has her own account @MaryLeeShark (not affiliated with OCEARCH). In the last week, Mary Lee has made an appearance just South of Cape May. She was spotted last week just 10 miles off of the Wildwood coast.
Just this past weekend, a group of fisherman caught an 820 lb, 11 foot mako shark in Wilmington Canyon – an undersea canyon off of the Atlantic Coast. With the South Jersey Shark fishing tournament less than a month away, this catch sure does set the bar!
You can read the full article on the mako shark catch here and on Mary Lee here.
