October 5th, 2016 — A battle is brewing on the high seas off Cape Cod between two groups of researchers trying to tag and track the growing population of great white sharks.
In September, OCEARCH, a non-profit that travels the globe studying marine animals, launched a short-term project called Expedition Nantucket in federal waters, between Cape Cod and the island of Nantucket.
But biologists from the state Division of Marine Fisheries, who are in the third year of a five-year study of the oceangoing predators, say OCEARCH’s vessel has come close to state waters, where they are conducting their own research. The state experts fear that OCEARCH’s methods of attracting and capturing sharks could alter the animals’ natural behavior, jeopardizing their work.
“We’re scared to death of introducing any bias into [our own research], so we are being very cautious,” said state biologist Greg Skomal, lead researcher of the shark population study, which is being funded by the non-profit Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.