For Jaws\u2019 50th anniversary, WBOC takes a deep dive into the most infamous sharks of Delmarva and how these fascinating animals play a pivotal role in our coastal ecosystems – and why experts are pushing for a focus on protecting them over fearing them.<\/p>\n
Shark Attacks<\/strong><\/p>\n Maryland holds a grim recognition when it comes to sharks but luckily not a consistent one. The very first documented death<\/a> from a shark attack in North America reportedly occurred in a Chesapeake Bay tributary on Maryland\u2019s Western Shore in 1640. Only two other unprovoked attacks have been recorded in Maryland since 1837, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History\u2019s International Shark Attack File<\/a> (ISAF).\u00a0<\/p>\n The Florida Museum says Delaware and Virginia have each seen five unprovoked shark attacks since 1837. ISAF does not list any unprovoked fatal encounters in Delmarva waters in their records<\/a> since that date, a 188 year timespan.<\/p>\n In 2024, the Florida Museum of Natural History reported an \u201cexceptionally calm\u201d year for worldwide shark attacks, with 47 confirmed unprovoked cases across the globe, down from 69 in the previous year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnnual fluctuations in shark-human interactions are always expected,\u201d the ISAF 2024 Shark Attack Report reads. \u201cWhile the number of fatalities in 2024 was lower than in 2023, this variation is still within the normal, recorded range of global fatalities.\u201d<\/p>\n Of those 47 unprovoked worldwide attacks in 2024, four were fatal, according to the ISAF.<\/p>\n The ISAF defines unprovoked bites as \u201cincidents in which a person does not initiate contact with a shark. Instances in which a person intentionally or unintentionally initiates contact, including spearfishing and releasing sharks from nets or hooks, are not included in the report.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the ISAF, there are 548 known shark species on the planet, and less than 20 of those have bitten humans 10 or more times<\/a>.<\/p>\n Delmarva\u2019s Shark Species<\/strong><\/p>\n Delmarva\u2019s vast waterways and coasts are home to a variety of sharks, most of which do not make that list.<\/p>\n Delaware\u2019s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) reports there are as many as 62 total species<\/a> of sharks found in the nearby Atlantic waters, Delaware Bay, and Inland Bay. The most common are spiny and smooth dogfish, sand tiger, and Atlantic mako, according to Delaware officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cResearchers say more than a dozen species of sharks could, in fact, be swimming as close as 10 feet to you in the Atlantic at any given time,\u201d Delaware\u2019s DNREC website reads. \u201cBut so are fish and all kinds of other marine species because, after all, the water is their home. We\u2019re just visitors in their sphere and they are almost always not interested in getting to know us better.\u201d<\/p>\n Maryland\u2019s Department of Natural Resources says it manages 41 species<\/a> of coastal sharks in a joint effort between the state, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.<\/p>\n From time to time, though, Delmarva\u2019s coastal waters also host the most famous shark of them all – the great white.<\/p>\n Great White Sharks \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Great white sharks are rarely-reported visitors to Delmarva waters yet capture the Peninsula\u2019s fascination each time they make an appearance. In 2015, ocean research non-profit and shark-tracker OCEARCH<\/a> pinged the famous 3,456-pound female Mary Lee<\/a> near the Chincoteague Bay. In 2023, a juvenile female named Anne Bonny<\/a>, also pinged by OCEARCH, passed through Delmarva waters on Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n Mary Lee the white shark, tagged and tracked by OCEARCH<\/p>\n OCEARCH<\/p>\n \u201cYes, they\u2019re also around, but they are the least common shark species found in Delaware waters,\u201d DNREC\u2019s website reads regarding white sharks.<\/p>\n Perhaps largely due to their frequent starring in films like Jaws and documentaries, great whites draw the most attention when it comes to sharks. Experts, however, say they are still significantly misunderstood<\/a> and information on their migration and mating patterns remain scarce. OCEARCH says they are actively working on changing that, for the benefit of both humans and sharks.<\/p>\n On January 17, 2025, OCEARCH said they tagged their largest recorded male Atlantic white shark off the coast of the Florida\/Georgia border. At just under 14 ft. and nearly 1,700 pounds, the shark was dubbed Contender<\/a>. Contender, like Mary Lee and Anne Bonny, could possibly be headed through Delmarva waters as researchers track him on an apparent northbound route. He was last pinged on June 7 off the coast of North Carolina.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n OCEARCH tags Contender, their largest Atlantic male white shark to date<\/p>\n OCEARCH<\/p>\n WBOC spoke with OCEARCH as to why their research, Contender, and his journey were important to Delmarva and to assuaging fears about white sharks.<\/p>\n \u201cContender is the largest male white shark that we\u2019ve handled and tagged,\u201d OCEARCH founder Chris Fischer told WBOC. \u201cThese big mature males are very important in solving a puzzle that\u2019s never been solved in any of the nine white shark populations – and that is, where do they mate?\u201d<\/p>\n The white sharks, according to Fischer and his organization\u2019s research, are not lingering off Delmarva\u2019s shores. They\u2019re reportedly migrating to northern waters off Canada to hunt after mating in the southeast, bringing them briefly to our coast.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know they come through your neck of the woods when they\u2019re migrating north off Chincoteague and Assateague,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cWe know that these animals are passing closely this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n Fischer said this is the beginning of the peak of the shark\u2019s migration season as they move north to hunt seals. Delmarva beaches are a seasonal stomping ground<\/a> for seals<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cManaging\u201d those seals, as Fischer puts it, doesn\u2019t just shed light on why and when the sharks are passing through, but also why that movement is important.<\/p>\n More Sharks, More Food<\/strong><\/p>\n Without sharks, OCEARCH says our own food supply could be endangered. Sharks play a vital role in controlling the food chain and preventing smaller predators, like seals, from overfeeding and depleting even smaller species.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen OCEARCH was founded, it was really founded on trying to impact global abundance, trying to make sure kids around the world could see an ocean full of fish,\u201d Fischer said in an interview with WBOC. \u201cAround 2006 we saw a global crash in our large shark populations and we saw fish populations struggle in the areas where that occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n Fischer said large shark populations were reduced to about 9% at the time.<\/p>\n The restoration of white sharks, and other large shark populations, is a focal point in OCEARCH\u2019s mission. Fischer referred to the predators as \u201cbalance keepers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe path to abundance goes directly through the balance keeper,\u201d Fischer said, comparing great white sharks to African lions and North American wolves in their keystone ecological roles.<\/p>\n Efforts are underway to protect sharks here off Delmarva. In 2022, the federal government declared a ban on the harvesting of mako sharks<\/a>, a restriction that directly affected<\/a> Ocean City\u2019s White Marlin Open. The famous annual fishing competition remains without a shark category<\/a> as of 2025.<\/p>\n Fear of the Unknown<\/strong><\/p>\n Shark attacks continue to dominate headlines<\/a> every summer nationwide. At the same time, researchers, activists, and government officials<\/a> continue to dispute stereotypes surrounding a group of animals millennia older than humans. Knowledge and understanding are key to our coexistence with these predators, according to experts.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at the 50th anniversary of Jaws coming up and you look at the conversation around Jaws 50 years ago, where we knew nothing and they could leverage the fear of the unknown to create a movie that just fascinated and terrified everyone,\u201d OCEARCH\u2019s Chris Fischer said. \u201cTo now a point we have so much data, their life has been completely demystified and we know there would never be a white shark that behaves like that. These things move 100 miles a day.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The movie Jaws, set in New England, was based on a book published in 1974. The book itself was reportedly partly inspired by shark attacks in New Jersey in 1916<\/a>. The species believed to be involved in those attacks was a bull shark, according to the Smithsonian<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n A bull shark, courtesy of the National Wildlife Federation<\/p>\n National Wildlife Federation<\/p>\n \u201cFacts Over Fear,\u201d OCEARCH\u2019s website reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reducing Risk<\/strong><\/p>\n Sharks, including great whites, are natural neighbors in the sea. As Delmarva takes to the beaches this summer, the ISAF recommends the following tips to reduce your risk of an already unlikely shark bite:<\/p>\n -Swim with a buddy<\/p>\n -Stay close to the shore<\/p>\n -Don\u2019t swim at dawn or dusk<\/p>\n -Don\u2019t swim around schools of fish or where people are fishing<\/p>\n -Avoid wearing jewelry\u00a0<\/p>\n -Avoid excess splashing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DELMARVA – Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie Jaws, a film that would…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[894,895,905,896,897,425,564,50,898,904,159,899,900,901,67,132,68,906,902,837,903],"class_list":{"0":"post-648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-accomack","9":"tag-caroline","10":"tag-delaware","11":"tag-dorchester","12":"tag-kent","13":"tag-local","14":"tag-maryland","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-queen-annes","17":"tag-regional","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-somerset","20":"tag-sussex","21":"tag-talbot","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-virginia","26":"tag-wicomico","27":"tag-wildlife","28":"tag-worcester"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114718370580195840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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