A Predator's Return
A forty-year fisherman, Rick Clough, saw something quite unforgettable while off the coast of Scarborough, Maine, in July: an eight-foot great white shark cutting through the cooling waters of New England. The sight startled him, he said, quickly adding that he's not eager to go urchin diving.
That's what seeing an apex predator in its natural environment does to a person—a quiet enough reminder that the species is returning to a region it once left behind.
Chasing Seals North
Just like a growing teen, sharks follow food. Scientists report that the seal population has rebounded because of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and other conservation measures. Due to efforts such as these, great whites are being lured farther north for the first time in generations.
Straight from the Numbers
For four years, starting in 2020, officials in Maine identified 93 individual great whites, including 19 documented across 47 days in 2024 alone.
Sightings of great whites off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, have become increasingly frequent in recent years, and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has documented hundreds of the animals over more than a decade. But new data shows the sharks are heading even farther north into New Hampshire, Maine, and beyond, said Greg Skomal, a senior fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries and a veteran white shark researcher.
Sightings in Nova Scotia surged 2.5 times between 2018 and 2022; even further north in the Cabot Strait, where detections nearly quadrupled. Not just seen, but scientists note they're sticking around: Residency in northern waters has increased from an average of 48 to 70 days.
Magnificent and Rarely Dangerous
David Lancaster, a Scarborough clam digger, used a drone to capture an amazing glimpse of a 12-foot shark, calling it "magnificent."
Although Lancaster underscored the need for swimmers to be wary, fatal encounters with great whites are rare. Since 1837, just one fatal unprovoked attack occurred in Maine, while the other resulted in serious injuries.
Safety Tools and Protections
Tools like the "Sharktivity" app track sightings, where beach communities send alerts, help the coexistence between people and sharks. In 1997, great whites were federally protected from fishing; also, in Massachusetts, additional limits on shoreline gear have curbed the unsafe targeting of the sharks.
When Nature Comes Full Circle
With all the noise in the news about destructive policies, it's refreshing to talk about something that's more than a simple shark story: It's a narrative illustrating how effective policies have worked over decades.
It's a domino effect: seals, saved by wildlife laws, draw sharks. It's nature's formula that has existed for eons, like a message in a bottle washing ashore years later, delivering a predator in response to an invitation from a guest.
History, perhaps our greatest instructor, teaches us that this isn't an accident; every conservation win stirs a positive response from the wild.
Final Thoughts
New England is adjusting to a world where sharks are sighted along the horizon, drawing headlines and signaling a healthier marine ecosystem.
The movie "Jaws" threw the monkey into the wrench (my version) of the relationship between man and shark, making the lesson of not vilifying sharks, but framing it: There's no compromise in nature; it learns and evolves.
Ocean shorelines are beautiful places where families enjoy being there, but now, they have company from one of the world's oldest predators.
That reality doesn't need drama, or even a cute theme song; it needs two things:
Clarity and the readiness to adapt.
