Editor’s Note: Twelve hours after this report, Ocearch released data that the shark was in the waters well off the southern shore of Long Island and the entity was trying to calculate if the shark actually had time to get that close to Connecticut shores, blaming the discrepancy on the shark monitor. It is a distinct possibility the shark never swam that far into the sound.
When a great white showed up in Long Island Sound this week, researchers were beside themselves, claiming it as a first. While we have a hard time believing it’s the first time a great white has made its way into the Sound in the history of the world, it is a fantastic sign for the health of the waters. Great white researchers said yesterday that a 10-foot fish named Cabot pinged tracking systems off the coast of Connecticut (see above).
Cabot was tracked by Ocearch, which according to ABC has been tracking the shark since last year when it was tagged in Nova Scotia. “He was right up on the beach, very close,” says Chris Fischer, the research group’s founder.
I heard sending a ping from the Long Island Sound had never been done before by a white shark…so naturally I had to visit and send one off.
Hello Greenwich how are you today?! pic.twitter.com/ijO9NpdiNr
— Great White Shark Cabot (@GWSharkCabot) May 20, 2019
Fischer and his peers at Ocearch were pleased with the appearance of the shark in the Sound because it shows that recent cleanup efforts in the waters around New York City and the surrounding areas are actually working. “I think it’s a really great sign for the Sound because these white sharks only go where there’s an abundant amount of life, where the water is in pretty good shape,” Fischer said. “That’s a real positive sign for the Sound there.”
According to its website, Ocearch is “a data-centric organization built to help scientists collect previously unattainable data in the ocean.” The group, which was established in 2007, is currently tracking 416 tagged sharks.
Cabot, Fischer says, has been up and down the Eastern Seaboard and is probably on its way back towards Nova Scotia. According to Cabot’s Twitter handle (yes the shark has a handle) Ocearch’s website, where people can track tagged sharks, shut down because of the high volume of users watching Cabot’s movements.
