Scientists are using state-of-the-art tracking devices to keep tabs on white sharks off the coast of Cape Cod this summer to keep beachgoers safe and to learn more about the animals’ habits.
Experts on the commonwealth’s coast — which saw a major uptick in sightings of white sharks recently, due to them preying on local seals — attached cameras and other high-tech sensors to some of the predators. These will collect data on the sharks as they swim along the shores this summer season, according to Phys.org.
“They’re outfitted with an incredible array of sensors that tell us about the animal’s movements and their environment,” said scientist Megan Winton of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, the group behind the project.
She described the sensors as smartphones for sharks and said each one is “essentially just riding on the back of a white shark.”
In addition to unique visuals of the sharks, the sensors can also indicate their depth, direction of travel and speed, as well as the temperature of the water they are in.
Greg Skomal, a shark expert at Massachusetts’ Division of Marine Fisheries, said that these trackers allow scientists to now monitor sharks on a moment-by-moment basis.
So far, the project has yielded video footage of a shark preying on a seal.
Winton added that a major goal of this program is to increase the public’s knowledge of sharks and their habits.
“We want them to understand these animals and their habits the way we do,” she said.
This news comes on the fins of New York state launching a new drone initiative to patrol shores for sharks so that beachgoers may be alerted sooner if one is swimming nearby.