{"id":526181,"date":"2026-03-16T03:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T03:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/526181\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T03:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T03:50:15","slug":"migration-path-of-white-sharks-reveal-the-gulf-of-america-is-ideal-in-the-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/526181\/","title":{"rendered":"Migration path of white sharks reveal the Gulf of America is ideal in the winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ocearch Senior Veterinary Scientist Dr. Harley Newton joins FOX Weather to talk about the recent shark encounters her team has had tagging sharks off the coast of Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 New research from scientists reveals that the Gulf of America serves as an ideal destination for great white sharks during the winter.<\/p>\n

OCEARCH experts tracked the movements of 92 great white sharks who were tagged while traveling between Nova Scotia, Canada<\/a> and Jacksonville<\/a>, Florida.<\/a><\/p>\n

FOUR WHITE SHARKS PING IN THE GULF JUST IN TIME FOR SPRING BREAK<\/a><\/p>\n

A recent study revealed that the Gulf of America serves as a regular winter habitat for white sharks migrating thousands of miles from Atlantic Canada and Northeastern<\/a> U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

OCEARCH<\/a> is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to researching and protecting sharks, whales, sea turtles and other\u00a0ocean<\/a> life, tagging these\u00a0animals<\/a> to track and study their migration habits and behaviors from afar.<\/p>\n

\"OCEARCH <\/p>\n

OCEARCH scientists handle a massive great white shark on a dock while conducting research.<\/p>\n

(OCEARCH)<\/p>\n

Through various methods such as satellite-linked smart positioning and acoustic tags, researchers discovered that 57 of the 92 sharks, across all life stages, spent significant time in the Gulf of America.<\/p>\n

“Each year, white sharks migrate from summer<\/a>\/fall <\/a>feeding grounds in Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States<\/a> to warmer winter<\/a> habitats farther south,” OCEARCH said in a press release.<\/p>\n

This time frame for winter residency of the white shark is primarily from December to May.<\/p>\n

10-FOOT WHITE SHARK PINGS ‘TIGHT TO THE BEACH’ OFF NORTH CAROLINA COAST JUST AHEAD OF SPRING BREAK<\/a><\/p>\n

According to experts, tracking data shows most of the 57 sharks frequently moving along the edge of the West Florida Shelf, with notable activity near Pulley Ridge, which is a reproductive reef system off the coast of Southwest Florida.<\/p>\n

\"Ernst, <\/p>\n

Ernst, the great white shark, has gotten the attention of scientists amid increased activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(OCEARCH \/ Instagram)<\/p>\n

Researchers observed that the sharks spent most of the time in the upper layers of the ocean<\/a>, sometimes diving vertically into larger depths. Experts say that this sort of behavior is commonly associated with hunting certain prey.<\/p>\n

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO STAY SAFE AT THE BEACH DURING SPRING BREAK<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MONTAUK, <\/p>\n

MONTAUK, NY – AUGUST 9: Captain Greg Metzger, left, holds on to a fishing pole with a six and a half foot blue shark as Dr. Matt Ajemian, research professor Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, center front, and Lisa Hoopes, nutritionist Georgia Aquarium , front right, draw blood, measure and try to get a tissue sample from the shark just offshore in the Atlantic Ocean on August 9, 2017 in Montauk, N.Y. Captain Greg Metzler is a high school marine science teacher and assists the crew of the OCEARCH in catching shark from his own boat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Ricky Carioti\/The Washington Post \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Water temperatures also play a role, ranging from 70 to 75 degrees in the Gulf waters during the winter months.<\/p>\n

In the past, great white sharks were considered to be occasional visitors of the Gulf of America, but this new research demonstrates that the region has a reliable habitat for the apex predators to thrive and rebuild their numbers after decades of overfishing.<\/p>\n

NEW YORK OFFICIALS WARN RESIDENTS AS SALAMANDERS, FROGS BEGIN ANNUAL SPRING MIGRATION AS TEMPERATURES CLIMB<\/a><\/p>\n

Studies from these tags allow scientists to map shark movements across thousands of miles and discover more information on the breeding habits of the large species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ocearch Senior Veterinary Scientist Dr. Harley Newton joins FOX Weather to talk about the recent shark encounters her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1147,17756,103,19490,2808,6202,2785,79,14030,38782,2316,25,201,19818],"class_list":["post-526181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-beaches","tag-canada","tag-fall","tag-florida","tag-ocean","tag-safety","tag-science","tag-southeast","tag-spring","tag-summer","tag-us","tag-wildlife","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}