Too many seals

First Cape Cod was overrun by seals and they wiped out the sport fishing grounds off the cape. Then the great white sharks showed up. Last year alone researchers spotted and identified 141 different great whites swimming close to the Cape beaches in murky waters. Now, yesterday there was a confirmed sighting of a killer whale off Chatham. Chatham has always been known as a quiet little drinking village with a fishing problem. Looks like the problem is a problem no more. Last weekend saw the most Cape Cod traffic and number of visitors ever.

Greeeaat. I'm headed that way at the end of the month. Family vacation in Plymouth.

That's what bin Laden said.

Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where they talk about adding more and more animals to take care of the previous ones. The gorillas want make it through the winter...

Looks like you'll need a bigger boat.

Plymouth is the next town over from me and Mazda605. If you get bored theres always something going on around here. Try your hand at stuffing a LS3 into a TR8. If you want to borrow 4 kayaks for a day, come on by. Wife and kids love paddling around Plymouth harbor in them. I got to warn you thou, last summer a great white decided to bite a hole in a couple of kayakers boats just south of Plymouth harbor near the power plant. The 911 call is on youtube. Pretty funny. Girl goes in the water. Shark is in the water. Girl does what all girls do and gets on her cell phone. "What if he comes back?" she says to the dispatcher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGUDwKNDsWg

In reply to tr8todd:

If I were the dispatcher I would've inquired as to whether she had any oxygen tanks

In reply to tr8todd:

I don't know much about seals, or great white sharks, or killer whales, but I do love the phrase "a quiet little drinking village with a fishing problem." (I happen to love the Lower Cape). I have no idea how this post contributes to the viability of this thread.

I always wanted to try to catch a killer whale. But the numbers alone make it a very interesting engineering challenge, which I've often thought of making a thread discussing. Great white would be a fun catch though, and I've seen people do that on rod n reel and handlines. Hmm. I might have to come fishing.

I swear it's just ice cream.

In reply to captdownshift:

I'm not going to cut one open here and have some kayak come spilling out on the dock.

I live one town over (in Middleboro) from TR8Todd and Mazdax605, and the Cape Cod traffic has been unbelievable this year. It's been getting so bad that people are attempting to take back roads, which clogs up some of the main routes through my town. It's good for local businesses, though.

I like to go down to Nelson Park in Plymouth which has a little beach there where you can bring dogs year round. It's near the waterfront. I haven't heard of any large danger fishes hanging out near there, nor have I seen any seals on the beach itself. BUT... the last time I went to the waterfront itself to snag some seafood (go to Wood's Seafood, it rules!), they had a section fenced off for seal activities. It seems like they are trending north more and more every year.

One thing I've learned living in the "Shark attack capitol of the World" is that if you are in the ocean......sharks are with you. Another thing I've learned----- sharks don't want you.

I get that folks are intimidated by the increasing # of Great Whites around Cape Cod, but how many shark attacks have been reported? Have there been ANY Great White deaths in New England.....ever??

Some of the same Great Whites that frequent Cape Cod migrate down here to FL at certain times of the year. This has probably been happening for years and years, with no problems. Start tracking them and realize how close you are to them.... and people freak out. For instance Katherine--- a 14 foot Great White is kind of a star, she frequents the Daytona area every year. She never causes any problems, but folks freak when they hear a big shark is in the water......like she's the only one!

Don't wear shiny things in the water, don't look like a seal in seal infested waters, and you should be fine. Sharks are much more intelligent than we've given them credit for in the past.

And Orcas? Heck....they are probably smarter than humans.

Joe Gearin wrote: One thing I've learned living in the "Shark attack capitol of the World" is that if you are in the ocean......sharks are with you. Another thing I've learned----- sharks don't want you. I get that folks are intimidated by the increasing # of Great Whites around Cape Cod, but how many shark attacks have been reported? Have there been ANY Great White deaths in New England.....ever??

Jaws.

But seriously, I wasn't worried. I'm from Chatham going WAY back. The whole Kentucky thing is just where I'm stuck now.

In reply to Joe Gearin:

Agreed, people in the land of pleasant living (Chesapeake) are freaking out over the number of cownose rays in the bay this summer. They're harmless and a sign of recovery for the ecosystem, yet people spread misinformation about them being dangerous, eating all the shellfish and even proclaiming, "save the bay, kill a ray". The ignorance is maddening.

and to think I love being on the Chesapeake too. The ignorance is maddening

In reply to Joe Gearin:

Sharks don't want me either? Another blow to what's left of my self esteem.

KyAllroad wrote:

Joe Gearin wrote: One thing I've learned living in the "Shark attack capitol of the World" is that if you are in the ocean......sharks are with you. Another thing I've learned----- sharks don't want you. I get that folks are intimidated by the increasing # of Great Whites around Cape Cod, but how many shark attacks have been reported? Have there been ANY Great White deaths in New England.....ever??

Jaws.

yeah, and there was this one time in the 1920s.....

Whites aren't really the dangerous ones. Bull sharks are the scary in shallow (and brackish, and even fresh) water and are much more aggressive. Which is not to say that you are in any danger from them, either really. I saw a discussion among full time sailboat cruisers on another forum recently, and very few of them had ever actually seen a shark.

In reply to captdownshift:

Selling fish, cownose is delicious. Now our "save the bay" species is Blue Cat. Also good.

Joe Gearin wrote: One thing I've learned living in the "Shark attack capitol of the World" is that if you are in the ocean......sharks are with you. Another thing I've learned----- sharks don't want you.

Replace ocean with woods and sharks with bears and you get the same thing. Still... when you hear one snuffling around your tent at 3am because your monkeybutt powder smells delicious - it is of no comfort at all that it's not you, just your ass crack.

Keep swimming, worry about the lightning instead. Or being murdered.

Odds of getting struck by lightning in your lifetime: 1 in 3,000

Odds of being injured by a toilet this year: 1 in 10,000

Odds of getting killed by a shark: 1 in 3.7 million

Odds of dying from an asteroid or comet: between 1 in 3,000 and 1 in 250,000

Odds of your car hitting a deer in Hawaii, the state where that is least likely to occur: 1 in 6,787

Odds of dying from a bee sting: 1 in 6 million

Odds of being murdered today in the United States: 1 in 19,000

Stolen from here. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131219-lottery-odds-winning-mega-million-lotto/

EastCoastMojo wrote: I swear it's just ice cream.

"Fix the damn thing. And leave my private life out of it. Okay pal?"

KyAllroad wrote:

Joe Gearin wrote: One thing I've learned living in the "Shark attack capitol of the World" is that if you are in the ocean......sharks are with you. Another thing I've learned----- sharks don't want you. I get that folks are intimidated by the increasing # of Great Whites around Cape Cod, but how many shark attacks have been reported? Have there been ANY Great White deaths in New England.....ever??

Jaws. But seriously, I wasn't worried. I'm from Chatham going WAY back. The whole Kentucky thing is just where I'm stuck now.

JAWS was actually based on a series of Bull shark attacks way back in the 20's In New Jersey I think--- in brackish water----it wasn't a Great White, but made for a much better movie. Bull sharks and Tiger sharks can be nasty, and are usually the culprits when someone gets badly hurt.

I have actually seen a shark out in the ocean while sailing. We never got close enough to identify it.. but I would guess it was around 6 feet in length and very slender. It was casually cruising along the surface, minding it's own business and staying away from our boat