Great white shark tours have become popular around Cape Cod as more of the largest predator fish are showing up here. Captain Cullen Lundholm (left) of White Sharks Tours Cape Cod points to a 12-foot female shark as passengers of a private charter try to spot it. Tours like this are pricey as companies use spotter planes to find the great whites. A private tour on a charter boat can costs $2,000 dollars or more, while group tours are around $300 per person.
White shark tourism is taking off in Cape Cod, where the ocean's largest predator fish have made a remarkable comeback.
Kris Roszack owns Down Cape Charters in Harwich, near the elbow of Cape Cod. He says white sharks have become more predictable here than the weather.
Roszack is concerned about the low clouds this morning. It's illegal here to lure sharks to a boat. So these tours rely on spotter planes to find them.
"I mean, success rate is probably in the upper 90% if the conditions are right,” Roszack said.
“We do not want to just take people for expensive boat rides.
”A few decades ago, white shark numbers reached an all-time low in Cape Cod. Experts blame mainly the decimation of seals, their main food source. Fishermen considered seals pests, and the state paid bounties for culling seals. But since the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, seals have come back, at first slowly, then exponentially. Now they're everywhere, Captain Nick Franco says. Franco leads shark tours in the area.
We take a ride with one tour boat to see what happens.
Kayana Szymczak / for NPR
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Victoria Germann (left) takes a closer look at the spotter plane, which has appeared on the horizon. She and her daughter Olivia Germann (right), 24, came from Connecticut to but were prepared to travel as far as Guadalupe Island last year to see white sharks, when the Mexican hotspot was closed to shark eco-tourism due to the environmental impacts of the unregulated industry.
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Like any boat tour, Captain Nick Franco, 55, explains where the life jackets, fire extinguishers, and head are onboard. Brigitte “Gigi” Marino, 22 (no relation to the author) has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology and is there to answer any questions passengers might have about white sharks biology. Though the 30-foot boat is rated for 20 passengers, Down Cape only allows 10. That way, it’s safe for everyone to gather on the shark-side of the boat, but Franco asks that people rotate to the gunwale cordially so that everyone has a turn being closest. From left to right, Olivia Germann, Walter Pytlak, Gigi Marino, Nick Franco, Paul Dunne, Jacob Dunne, Felix Dunne, and Valerie Bogan.
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Valerie Bogan (left), 46, from Hagerstown, Indiana, and Lisa Castle, 51, from Shelton, Connecticut, get a good look of a white shark. The shark’s path is not straight but meandering. Captain Franco, watching it from the starboard window, steers the boat at a low throttle to keep us close.
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Captain Franco pays close attention to depth. Not only is Chatham Harbor hazardously shallow, but sharks are especially visible in depths of ten feet or less, against the contrast of the sandy bottom.
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A few yards form the boat, the 12-foot, female, untagged shark is glimpsed here even at a low angle. Water conditions are particularly calm today, which makes a big difference in visibility. In addition to fog or low-lying clouds, wind and waves can cause last-minute cancellations.
Kayana Szymczak / for NPR
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for NPR
Before the tour leaves dock, Captain Nick Franco, right, waits to instructions from the spotter plane pilot on which direction to head first. From left to right, Felix Dunne, Kate Hales, Victoria and Olivia Germann, Walter Pytlak, and Brigitte “Gigi” Marino, the guide.
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for NPR
Katherine “Katie” Hales, 27, a biology major who works in finance, says that seeing a white shark was on her “bucket list.”
Kayana Szymczak / for NPR
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for NPR
Passengers watch a harbor seal feeding on a school small fish. From left to right, Lisa Castle, her uncle Walter Pytlak, Olivia Germann, Katherine Hales, and Victoria Germann.
Kayana Szymczak / for NPR
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for NPR
The tour heads back into the harbor with satisfied passengers. From left to right, Jacob Dunne, Valerie Bogan, Lisa Castle, Gigi Marino, Kate Hales, Victoria Germann, Olivia Germann, and Walter Pytlak.
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