Cape Cod and Great Whites...

[seldom seen]

Glad to see some shark sympathy, thank you guys. Idk how anybody could say with certainty that the GW population or any other species is stable...pretty retarded, most data I've encountered implies otherwise, and then you have to factor in shark finning. As a former commercial fisherman, my blood boils when I see footage of that happening, and I would happily fillet anybody who can cut a sharks fins off and throw it back in the water alive. Shark attacks are an inherent risk involved in what we do, accept it or GTF out of the water! Besides, death by shark attack isn't the worst thing that could happen, guarenteed seat in Valhalla IMO, beats dying of cancer.

[holyokesurfer]

The seal population has increased by huge amounts in the past years and is the reason sharks are there. GWs are attracted there because the water temperatures are ideal for the seals Cape Cod and so the GWs will stay there. It is unlikely that they will travel south to NJ to feed because the seals dont like the warmer water temps. It is only a matter of time that a surfer or swimmer will get attacked by a GW but it has been proven that GWs are non agressive creatures and won't intentionally attack a human. All the advice I can give is that when the lineups are empty and the waves are perfect sharks are probably present.

[BloodOfThor]

I live on the Cape. There's no sharks.

[winslow]

I live on the Cape. There's no sharks.

true .

[BloodOfThor]

true .

Jellyfish however. I got owned last weekend wakeboarding.

[VineyardSurfer]

Everyone says save the sharks, but the moment someone gets bitten everyone is gonna be freaking out. Its not the sharks fault. The problem is we let their food source get way to close to home. I have grown up on the Vineyard my whole life and I can personally attest to the explosion of the seal population. Anyone been out to No Mans Island recently? The beach over their is packed with 100's of seal at a time. Its a common occurrence to share the lineup with at least 10 seals on any given day at my home break. My dad says that back in the day you used to hardly ever see seals. And guess what? Fish stocks were higher, and great white sighting were far fewer. So why not cull some seals? But that is just me. I'm fine sharing the lineup with a few less kooks worried about white sharks. haha

[LBCrew]

I'm in MA for the week, and there are more seals in the water this year than I've ever seen. And they seem to be more comfortable getting closer to humans, too. Twice in the past two days I've had a seal within 15 feet from me. It used to be you'd see a head pop up outside, but now the're right in the lineup and in the waves. I've not seen a shark.

[Ray F.]

“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.”
― Horace Walpole

With the "facts" that the internet gives us, it's easy to show "evidence" for our emotional response. Conservation efforts are generally emotionally-based. From saving sharks to recycling, most people truly don't know what level of impact the percieved threat really exists, but it makes them feel better to do (or post) something that makes them believe they're helping, regardless of the impact of their action.

I've been to number of other countries that don't outlaw or enforce environmental or wildlife conservation efforts. Globally, their impact is so vastly negative over ours, it makes our laws comical. Don't get me wrong...I'm all about putting trash in it's place, not wasting resources and preventing the sensless killing of animals, but some people just go overboard.

Just my 2 cents.

[seldom seen]

The only overboard thoughts I've seen in this thread are those suggesting that attempts at culling the shark population are reasonable and the statement that "the only good shark is a dead shark"...

[Ray F.]

Don't forget people claiming to "happily fillet anybody who can cut a sharks fins off and throw it back in the water alive." I'm pretty sure someone who would (a) actually do it and (b) take joy in doing so would be someone that's a touch overboard...among other things.