Jump to content

Montauk - Sharks & Seals

Rate this topic


blastwater

Recommended Posts

That Tooker stuff is real cool. Guy named McCann bought the rights and has a great website dedicated to it.  I'm a bit skeptical on the story. Not because I do not think it could happen.....but more around water temps. We have a ton of sharks. Ocearch proved what commercial fishermen and Capt. Mundus knew. My reading (Mr. Witek can let me know if I'm wrong) states low end of temperature range for GW's to be 52-54 degrees. Water Temps were mid 40's. While we have a year round seal population, it's nowhere near the Cape's population. Would our relatively low numbers hold a fish against its comfort zone? I don't believe any remains came ashore.

Happy New Year,

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 mins ago, mikemontauk said:

That Tooker stuff is real cool. Guy named McCann bought the rights and has a great website dedicated to it.  I'm a bit skeptical on the story. Not because I do not think it could happen.....but more around water temps. We have a ton of sharks. Ocearch proved what commercial fishermen and Capt. Mundus knew. My reading (Mr. Witek can let me know if I'm wrong) states low end of temperature range for GW's to be 52-54 degrees. Water Temps were mid 40's. While we have a year round seal population, it's nowhere near the Cape's population. Would our relatively low numbers hold a fish against its comfort zone? I don't believe any remains came ashore.

Happy New Year,

Mike

Mary Lee pinged just off Westhampton beach in late January 2013. https://www.google.com/amp/s/patch.com/new-york/westhampton-hamptonbays/amp/13717463/real-life-jaws-arrives-in-the-hamptons

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think food will trump temperature as long as the white can adjust to the temp. Their body temps regulate to the different conditions. If you look at a scatter of all those sharks tracked by Ocearch there are some serious cold water zones and when they go deep it's always well below 50 F.. Just guessing but I would be doing a wetsuit swim at the Cape in January.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, JoeGBreezy said:

I think food will trump temperature as long as the white can adjust to the temp. Their body temps regulate to the different conditions. If you look at a scatter of all those sharks tracked by Ocearch there are some serious cold water zones and when they go deep it's always well below 50 F.. Just guessing but I would be doing a wetsuit swim at the Cape in January.

 

A young biologist who I help with shark research off Long Island had a chance to work with Ocearch in late September, tagging whites off Nova Scotia.  Don't know what the water temperature was at that time of year, but I suspect that it wasn't much over 50, and might have been less.  Yet they encountered quite a few fish.

"I have always believed that outdoor writers who come out against fish and wildlife conservation are in the wrong business. To me, it makes as much sense golf writers coming out against grass.."  --  Ted Williams

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Charles

September is about the warmest the water up there will be. I worked in Canada for a couple of years and spent some time. not a lot, in NS and NB. Not going to dip my toes ever in that ice bath, but locals do. 

What I find most interesting about the Ocearch sharks is that many fall into different behavior patterns. There was one I tracked a couple of years ago who was swimming from RSA to Australia and back with very few pings on their system. One of the larger sharks like Mary Lee who has become their poster child.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/30/2018 at 5:12 PM, mikemontauk said:

That Tooker stuff is real cool. Guy named McCann bought the rights and has a great website dedicated to it.  

Happy New Year,

Mike

McCann lost a lot of Tooker’s work in the Peter Beard fire. He stored them in the building that burned down, but lived in a different building on the property.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

There is undoubtedly a tradeoff between water temperature and food supply for all organisms in this case.  If the area has plenty of high-calorie seal flesh at hand, will GWs stay in water that would otherwise be too cold?  Body mass increases faster then skin area as a shark grows, and they get pretty chunky in profile. That's good for heat retention. Will big sharks, if adequately fed, spend more time in colder water then small ones? I know of no data on this, but I suspect it's so. 

 

Somebody else can hop in a shark cage next to a dead seal and report. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to register here in order to participate.

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


×
×
  • Create New...