Cape Cod National Seashore Urges Residents & Visitors to be Shark Smart in 2022

Information Release Date: June 29, 2022

Get hold of: Brian Carlstrom, 508-957-0701

WELLFLEET, Mass. – Cape Cod’s waters are element of a pure and wild marine ecosystem with a loaded diversity of sea lifetime, such as sharks and seals. Seals are the key prey species for the fantastic white shark. Sharks normally feed on seals shut to shore, and they’ve been noticed close to swimming beaches. 

Though it is exceptional for a wonderful white shark to chunk a human, considering the fact that 2012, sharks have bitten people today three instances in the waters off Truro and Wellfleet. A single bite, in 2018, resulted in a fatality. With shoreline topography adjustments and sharks and seals in the ocean, any stage of activity in the h2o, no matter whether wading, swimming, or browsing, will pose a distinctive diploma of risk. Everybody going into the ocean must physical exercise caution and be willing to suppose the degree of hazard linked with their behavior prior to getting into the drinking water.  

If you make a decision to enterprise into the waters off Cape Cod, study how to be Shark Clever.

Be Shark Smart 

• Be informed sharks hunt for seals in shallow drinking water.

• Stay near to shore exactly where rescuers can arrive at you. 

• Swim, paddle, kayak, and surf in groups. Do not isolate on your own.  

• Prevent spots wherever seals are existing.

• Stay clear of spots where colleges of fish are noticeable.

• Stay away from murky or small-visibility h2o.

• Limit splashing.

• Adhere to all signage and flag warnings at shorelines and directions of the lifeguards.

If You See a Shark and a Lifeguard Is on Duty 

• Notify a lifeguard if a shark is sighted 

• H2o will be temporarily closed to recreational routines. 

• Seaside goers will be notified when they can reenter the water 

Beach & Ocean Protection Basics 

• Follow all signage and flag warnings at seashores and directions of the lifeguards 

• Under no circumstances turn your again to the ocean 

• Be warn for rip currents, shore split, and potent undertows 

• If caught in a rip recent: 

  • Stay quiet to conserve electrical power, and imagine clearly 

  • Really don’t combat the present-day. Swim out of the latest in a direction parallel to the shoreline 

  • When out of the present, swim to the shore 

  • If you simply cannot swim out of the present-day, float or calmly tread water 

  • If you can’t achieve the shore, attract consideration to on your own — wave your arms and yell for help 

• If you see somebody in trouble — get aid from a lifeguard. If there is no lifeguard on obligation, connect with 911

• Sand collapses very easily do not climb slopes or dunes, as undercut cliffs can collapse at any time without having warning  

• Deep holes can direct to burial and suffocation do not dig holes further than knee degree of the smallest man or woman in your group.