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July 31, 2012

Expert: Great white likely attacked Cape Cod swimmer

By Lindsey Anderson Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A man bitten while swimming off a Cape Cod beach was likely attacked by a great white shark, a Massachusetts shark biologist said Tuesday.

State Marine Fisheries official Gregory Skomal said the description of the swimmer’s injuries, witness accounts and the presence of gray seals near the beach fit with a great white attack. The sharks feed on gray seals.

Scientists won’t know for sure until they can talk to the victim, identified by police as Christopher Myers.

Myers was bitten Monday while swimming off Ballston Beach in Truro. He was hospitalized with severe cuts on both legs, but was not expected to lose any limbs, officials said.

Ballston Beach remained open Tuesday, but signs warned swimmers of a recent shark sighting and told them to swim at their own risk.

The last great white shark attack in Massachusetts was in 1936 and was fatal, Marine Fisheries Assistant Press Secretary Reggie Zimmerman said.

The number of great white sightings off the Massachusetts coast has increased in the last few years, likely because of a growing seal population luring sharks closer to shore, Skomal said.

Skomal said fisheries officials have tagged, and are tracking, nine great white sharks off the coast. While they can’t track them in real time, they try to check the data weekly. So far, there has been no evidence the nine great whites have traveled as far north as the site of Monday’s attack.

The tagged sharks were between 9- and 18-feet long.

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