![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/factBriefImage.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nYes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Great white sharks, also known as white sharks<\/a>, are federally protected. NOAA Fisheries lists them as a prohibited species, meaning they must be released immediately if caught.<\/p>\n The protection dates back to 1997<\/a>, when federal regulators banned the possession of white sharks and four other species considered especially vulnerable to overfishing. White sharks are not currently endangered.<\/p>\n Federal rules allow catch-and-release fishing<\/a> for white sharks with rod and reel under specific conditions. Maine law prohibits the \u201ctake\u201d<\/a> of white sharks in state waters, including attempts to remove them<\/a> from their habitat.<\/p>\n Sharks drew attention in Maine this summer after a spate of sightings<\/a>. In August, a white shark pulled a Scarborough lifeguard underwater<\/a> by his attached rescue device; he was unhurt. On Labor Day, anglers hooked and released<\/a> a shark at Scarborough\u2019s Higgins Beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maine\u2019s only confirmed fatal shark attack<\/a> occurred off Harpswell\u2019s Bailey Island in 2020.<\/p>\n This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Maine Trust for Local News partners with Gigafact<\/a> to produce fact briefs \u2014 bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology<\/a> to learn how we check claims.<\/p>\n Sources<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yes. Great white sharks, also known as white sharks, are federally protected. NOAA Fisheries lists them as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[85,46,141,386],"class_list":["post-623150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}