\u201cWe\u2019re a hearty bunch,\u201d said longtime Down East lobsterman John Drouin. \u201cWe actually just stand by for a minute and watch in awe.\u201d<\/p>\n
GREAT WHITES OFF MAINE\u2019S SHORES<\/p>\n
Nine white shark sightings have been reported to the Maine Department of Marine Resources so far this year, according to Matthew Davis, a marine scientist at the agency. The latest \u2014 which has not yet been confirmed as a great white \u2014 was spotted Monday near busy beaches in Scarborough<\/a>.<\/p>\n A month before Hawkes\u2019 encounter, another group of fishermen spotted a shark feasting on a seal near their boat off Boothbay, the Midcoast Villager<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n Great whites are not new to the Gulf of Maine, and compared to hot spots like Cape Cod or Hilton Head, their numbers here remain low, recent research shows<\/a>. But the population is likely bouncing back because of conservation measures put in place to protect the sharks, which were overfished until the 1990s, as well as seals, a favorite prey species for adult whites.<\/p>\n Still, \u201cpeople are perhaps paying more attention to them than historically,\u201d Davis acknowledged.<\/p>\n The number of times people see sharks does not reflect how many are in local waters. The marine resources department uses acoustic technology to keep track of an estimated 350 tagged sharks in New England when they swim nearby \u2014 though those counts are dependent on the right conditions falling into place.<\/p>\n The department said it has identified 93 individual great white sharks swimming through the Gulf of Maine from mid-2020\u00a0through the end of 2024. Researchers detected 12\u00a0in 2020; 29 in 2021; 27 in 2022; 29 in 2023; and 19 in 2024. Some returned multiple years.<\/p>\n Research has shown that great whites tend to hang around southern and Midcoast Maine \u2014 including Phippsburg, Harpswell and Scarborough \u2014 where there is a more abundant food supply and increasingly warmer ocean temperatures.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n