Napis Lecture - Legare sharks April 2021

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Center for Coastal Studies Seascape Ecologist Bryan Legare presents "What they do in the Shallows: Fine-scale movements of White Sharks on Cape Cod."

The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is the largest predatory fish in the world. As white shark populations in the Atlantic Northwest increase, so too does the potential for human-shark interactions. Accurate information about the presence and distribution of white sharks in the shallow waters off Cape Cod will help inform and manage public safety on our beaches.

In 2019, Bryan Legare embarked on a first of its kind study to shed light on the daily movements of white sharks in shallow waters of Cape Cod. Bryan, working in collaboration with state shark biologist Greg Skomal, used a dense array of receivers to track the movements of acoustically tagged white sharks off Head of the Meadow in Truro and Nauset Beach in Orleans. These tracks were correlated to sidescan imagery and bathymetry (seafloor topography) collected by the CCS seafloor mapping team, as well as to oceanographic conditions such as current, wave action and turbidity.

Analysis of the tracks of tagged white sharks indicated that they were present in those nearshore waters during 29-51% of the study periods, and showed distinct affinity to waters near a gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) haul out. Generally, patterns of presence and absence in the shallow water habitats are associated with bathymetry, changes in oceanographic conditions, and high-energy weather systems.

Bryan Legare holds an MS in Marine and Environmental Science Program from the University of the Virgin Islands and is a current PhD student at UMass Amherst in the Department of Ecological Conservation.

This presentation is part of our Napi's (Online) Lecture Series, conceived by, named for, and presented in celebration of Napi and Helen Van Dereck.

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