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Why Are There So Many Great White Sharks In Cape Cod?

Why Are There So Many Great White Sharks In Cape Cod - great white shark

You maybe wondering why there are so many great white sharks in Cape Cod because you live in Cape Cod or you maybe about to visit Cape Cod on a holiday.

The reason why there are so many great white sharks in Cape Cod is because of the increasing numbers of protected grey seals and because the water temperature from July to October is above 12°C (53.6°F) . Great white sharks are a protected species too and hunt this growing population of grey seals.

If fact, the number of great white sharks in Cape Cod has been rising, which is as a result of the Marine Mammal Protection Act passed in 1972 making the killing of grey seals and other marine mammals illegal. Since 1972 Cape Cod’s grey seal population has rebounded to as many as 50,000 seals. That’s a lot of seals and prey for great white sharks that predate on these seals.

If you would love to dive with great white sharks, one of the best ways to do this is to book yourself on a scuba diving liveaboard that visits Guadalupe Island in Mexico. You can check the latest and best deals on liveaboards using the following window:

Why do great white sharks go to Cape Cod?

Great white sharks go to Cape Cod to feed on the grey seals and arrive there in June-July each year when seas are over 12°C (53.6°F). Great white sharks are migratory fish and swim great distances, with many Cape Cod great white sharks migrating up the east coast of America from the Gulf of Mexico.

Great white sharks in Cape Cod can be seen from the many Cape Cod great white shark adventures or from the beaches of Cape Cod, and sometimes close to the shore.

Are great white sharks in Cape Cod year round?

Great white sharks are not in Cape Cod year round, as water temperatures drop below 12°C (53.6°F) in October/November time. Great white sharks prefer water temperatures above 12°C and migrate south when seas cool down in the fall and winter months.

When do great white sharks leave Cape Cod?

Cape Cod great white sharks leave Cape Cod in October/November time when sea temperatures fall below 12°C (53.6°F). The Cape Cod great white sharks move south and migrate down the east cost of America passing places like Long Island and down to the Gulf of Mexico.

Great white shark Cisco in Cape Cod Bay
Great white shark Cisco in Cape Cod Bay

Cape Cod shark tracker

Ocearch has attached trackers on many of the Cape Cod sharks which shows where these sharks visit when in the Cape Cod area. In the above image great white shark Cisco was last pinged in Cape Cod Bay in June 2017.

Liveaboard.com search Mexico great white sharks larger

I hope you enjoyed this article about why are there so many great white sharks in Cape Cod

If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkelling or scuba diving (or specifically about why are there so many great white sharks in Cape Cod), please comment below with your questions.

There will also be many more articles about scuba and scuba diving safety tips (and on snorkelling too) for you to read and learn about this fabulous sport.

Why Are There So Many Great White Sharks In Cape Cod?

Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.

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