Researchers are using camera tags to learn more about the behaviors and habits of great white sharks in Cape Cod Bay.<\/p>\n
The camera tags are like GoPro cameras that the sharks wear temporarily, offering a close-up view of what they\u2019re seeing until the camera falls off.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re basically riding the back of a shark for a day or two,\u201d said Greg Skomal<\/a>, shark biologist for the state\u2019s division of Marine Fisheries. \u201cThe cameras tell us what the sharks are doing every second of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Greg Skomal, shark biologist for Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, encounters a shark on a research trip with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy on<\/p>\n Each camera tag is also equipped with sensors that measure conditions such as depth, temperature, and speed so \u201cwe can look at its behavior,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, Skomal has put camera tags on white sharks<\/a> in the past, but last Thursday marked the first time researchers affixed one to a white shark in Cape Cod Bay. <\/p>\n On Monday the researchers went out in the bay again and continued the operation, tagging six great whites in all. <\/p>\n Acoustic tags, which track the shark\u2019s location, were placed on the sharks and one was given a camera tag, Skomal said. <\/p>\n The day after tagging the shark last week, researchers picked up the signal. The researchers are still downloading the information, but the footage appears to show the shark \u201ccruising the bottom of Cape Cod Bay.\u201d <\/p>\n Unlike the white sharks on the outer Cape that feed on seals, the sharks in Cape Cod Bay are feeding on schooling fish, squid, and striped bass, he said.<\/p>\n They tend to be younger and smaller than those along the outer Cape, he said. The juveniles in Cape Cod Bay typically measure less than 9 feet, he said. <\/p>\n And unlike the larger white sharks that hunt seals on the outer Cape, the sharks in Cape Cod Bay \u201ctend to stay away from land,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re behaving differently in Cape Cod Bay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Emily Sweeney can be reached at emily.sweeney@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her @emilysweeney<\/a> and on Instagram @emilysweeney22<\/a>.<\/p>\n