Great white shark named Bob that’s 13 feet long and weighs 1,400 pounds is tracked near Cape Cod

A great white shark that weighs 1,400 pounds and is 13-feet long has been tracked near Cape Cod amid a season higher shark sightings in the northeast.

The gigantic shark, named Bob, is one of many fitted with a device that allows researchers to know where they are – that information is fed into platforms like the Sharktivity app or the website of Ocearch – a marine research group.

The group said it had been almost 10 months since they received a location ping from Bob when the great white pinged on Sunday off Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

‘We met Bob last September off Nova Scotia and he had last pinged off Jacksonville, Florida in November,’ the group said.

‘We’re excited to hear from Bob again and hope he continues to come to the surface and share his location with us!’

The large sea creature was first tagged at Ironbound Island, Nova Scotia, in September 2021.

Bob’s location ping came as the entire northeaster region of the US has seen an uptick of shark sightings this summer. 

By early July, there were 14 sharks lurking in the waters around Long Island, including a huge 528-pound female white shark known as Princess. 

Toward the end of spring, sharks leave their winter homes in the south for warm waters in the north, sparking a large migration that settles along east coast beaches that are also heavily populated by visitors until the end of September.

Scientists warned visitors of Cape Cod to be weary when swimming in the bay, as this region could see a migration of at least 100 sharks this summer.

Shark attacks are not common, but they do occur. 

According to Tracking Sharks, which reports shark attacks worldwide, there have been 28 shark attacks in the US in 2022 as of August 1. Two of the attacks were provoked and none were fatal. In 2021, there were 47 incidents, and there were 22 in 2020. 

Unprovoked shark bites are the most common occurrences. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack Files, the yearly average of unprovoked shark bites globally is 70, resulting in about five deaths. 

Since 2009, researchers have tagged more than 280 great whites off Cape Cod, with nearly 230 of those tags still active and sending back data about shark movements, according to the scientists. 

Tagging the predators allows the team to better understand where the sharks are likely to make an appearance, as well as what times of the day they tend to be most active.

Greg Skomal, a state marine biologist who has been studying the region’s great whites for decades, said the animals still tend to be concentrated on the Atlantic Ocean-facing side of the cape, where they feast on a flourishing seal population.

He advised beachgoers to be most vigilant when swimming off beaches where the shoreline quickly drops off into deeper waters.