Great White Shark — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Martin Prochazkacz
A great white shark has been located off the coast of Florida and is making its way through the Middle Keys. It is believed she could be headed toward the Tampa Bay area in her “snowbird”-like travels.
“Sable” the great white shark was tagged by OCEARCH scientists on Sept. 13, 2021, in the deep waters of Ironbound Island, Nova Scotia.
“She was named ‘Sable’ after the Sable Island National Park Reserve, located approximately 180 miles offshore of Halifax, Nova Scotia, near where she was tagged,” OCEARCH said on its website.
Then, she was just a juvenile estimated to be 11.5 feet long and 807 pounds.
“With OCEARCH, we have a unique situation with a fishing crew that knows how to catch these animals and gently leads them to a platform we have on the ship. Where we can get on and work on the animal safely for the animal and safely for us,” said chief scientist of OCEARCH, Dr. Robert Hueter.
Dr. Hueter explained that it took them only 15 minutes to do 24 different projects on the shark, from attaching Sable’s tracking tags to collecting blood samples.
“And Sable did great. It was only about a 45-minute process from when she was first caught to when we released her. And since then, she’s traveled, approaching 3,000 miles all the way from Novia Scotia,” Dr. Hueter said.
“Pinging” works when the device attached to sharks, like Sable, sends a radio transmission to a satellite system. This happens when a shark comes up to the surface. Dr. Hueter stated that white sharks do this very regularly, despite not having to breathe air.
Data collected from the “ping” is then transferred from the satellite back to the OCEARCH lab, where it is shown on their website in real-time. The public can see this as well.
Sable’s last “ping” was around 9 p.m. on Tuesday near the Florida Keys.
Dr. Hueter explained that great white sharks visiting the Sunshine State during the wintertime is not uncommon, and Sable is still on the move.
“Right now, Sable is down in the Middle Keys, about 20 miles offshore, making her way through the Gulf Stream. And I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up here, just off of Tampa Bay, but probably pretty far out. Probably 50 miles out or more,” he said.
Dr. Hueter notes that Florida’s great white shark visitors are not a threat of any kind. They do not come close to the beaches due to a lack of seals to hunt.
“People do not have to worry. People should rejoice that the white sharks are beginning to return,” he said. “Their numbers are beginning to come back up after many years of declines and our worries about the disruption to the marine ecosystem. They’re coming back.”
OCEARCH has trackers that will hopefully last for five years on over 83 different sharks. Dr. Hueter has hopes that Sable will continue to transmit information on her location for further research.
“So watching her over the next, another four years, we hope, will perhaps take her into adulthood and maybe we’ll see where she mates. Where these animals are mating is the final piece of the puzzle that we’re trying to drop in,” he said.
Those interested in tracking Sable and other tagged sharks can see where they ping and when online.
Are you interested in Florida’s nature? For stories like this and much more: Florida Insider is dedicated to educating, entertaining and informing its readers about everything Florida. Easy to read content at the palm of your hands and covering the stories that matter.
