N. California waters see more great white sharks
Increasing population seen as good sign for area By Paul Rogers, The Mercury News
Published: June 1, 2021, 6:03am
Share: The Monterey Bay coastline in Northern California. The area has seen an increase in great white sharks in recent years as water temperatures have warmed. (Dreamstime)
SAN JOSE, Calif. You’re still far more likely to see them in movies or TV shows than in person, but the number of great white sharks appears to be increasing along the Northern California coast, say scientists who tracked hundreds of the toothy predators by their distinctive fins.
Great white shark population along California coast booming
By Julia Musto
Stanford University, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Oregon State University s Hatfield Marine Science Center found that between 2011 and 2018 great white shark numbers in the area had notably risen.
Over a period of more than 2,500 hours of observation at three sites – Southeast Farallon Island, Año Nuevo Island and Tomales Point –
Comparatively, a 2011 three-year study found just 219 sharks, suggesting the shift.
Although the group found both male and female sharks, the estimate of the adult female population showed just around 60 in the region.
Underwater
video recordings and photographs helped to collect the data and a seal decoy was used to lure the apex predators.
A great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
The great white shark population off Northern California s coast is healthy and growing, a new study finds.
A survey of the great whites (
Carcharodon carcharias) off the northern coast finds a stable adult population and a slight uptick in the number of subadult sharks, totaling 300 individuals. Researchers used a seal decoy to lure the apex predators to their boats so they could photograph and count the sharks.
The findings are great for the region.
Related: Robust populations of large predators are critical to the health of our coastal marine ecosystem, study co-author Taylor Chapple, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University,
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Why a Rise in Great White Sharks Off the California Coast is Good News
On 5/25/21 at 6:51 AM EDT
The population of great white sharks off the coast of central California is increasing, according to a study, which means populations of other animals like seals and fish may also be healthy.
Between 2011 and 2018, and over the course of more than 2,500 hours, a team of researchers identified nearly 300 adult and sub-adult individual great white sharks at Farallon Island, Año Nuevo Island, and Tomales Point three sites where the apex predators are known to gather.
A similar study conducted in 2011 found 219 great whites, which suggests that numbers are slowly increasing in the area.