School\u2019s in session.<\/p>\n
Great white sharks swarmed the New York and New Jersey coasts at record levels this summer with an incredible number of apex predators also being born in the area, experts told The Post.<\/p>\n
The region\u2019s Atlantic shores have seen a marked increase in the creatures of \u201cJaws\u201d fame \u2014 and a boom in all ocean life \u2014 which is turning casual swims into ocean safaris, according to sea-life non-profit OCEARCH<\/a>.<\/p>\n White sharks like Ripple, who was briefly captured by OCEARCH researchers off the coast of Nova Scotia in Sept., use the waters of New York as a breeding ground which currently is getting fuller and fuller, experts said. OCEARCH<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys are right in the heart of the white shark\u2019s primary nursery,\u201d said Chris Fischer, OCEANRCH founder and expedition leader. \u201cThese white shark pups are dropped off right there in New York-New Jersey \u2026 in the May to June timeframe every year.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what\u2019s happening with the white sharks and increase in sightings is that the nursery is getting fuller and fuller.\u201d<\/p>\n OCEARCH warned that folks walking from the shore are entering not placid waters but an \u201cocean safari.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re dealing with a situation where you step in our ocean you\u2019re going deep into the wild in just a few steps,\u201d Fischer said.<\/p>\n Great white sharks take 30 years to reach sexual maturity and female sharks produce a litter of roughly 8 pups every two years.<\/p>\n OCEARCH tracks over one hundred sharks in the waters on the Atlantic Coast with plenty appearing off the coast of Long Island. https:\/\/www.ocearch.org\/tracker\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe started protecting our white sharks about 30 years ago, so we\u2019re just starting to get more and more mature animals that are having more and more babies that are filling up the nursery,\u201d Fischer told The Post. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are really in the midst of this great return to abundance,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cIts the biggest story that no one is talking about in our oceans.\u201d<\/p>\n The NYPD reported two separate shark incidents in consecutive days at Rockaway Beach on July 4 and 5, both of which prompted closures of the popular haunt.<\/p>\n NYPD drone camera footage captured a shark less than 100-feet from swimmers at Rockaway Beach. X \/ @kazdaughtry<\/p>\n