Will sharks keep you from going to Cape Cod this Summer? (Fall River: house, living in)

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

I don’t mean to change the subject, but I was raised in Massachusetts and went to the beaches every summer (1950s and 60s). Not once, did I ever see a seal until I went to the Pacific Ocean. Have they always been there, or it is something recent?

You're probably my age. I never saw a seal back then but I used to be a little bit concerned about sharks anyway. There weren't any shark attacks but somehow I guess I remember reading about sharks and being a little bit fearful.

I always went out deep at Nauset and swam in the ocean--even in June when it felt like ice cubes around your legs. You just have to get numb enough to not feel it.

Probably eventually the government will do something to make it safer. I heard those noise producing machines only work for a while and then the sharks get used to them, so probably that could be a start but they'll have to do something more in the long run.

On the north shore, they are seeing seals a lot and also Great Whites. So this is a new era for them too. People do swim in the ocean and people like to surf, so just going to the beach to look at the water and buy some souvenirs isn't going to be enough to draw the tourists.

[MMS02760]

The influx of seals to the outer cape has greatly increased in the last two decades. Their higher numbers have attracted the sharks.

It is not just in the water where there are species numbers that have greatly risen. New England is seeing a big increase in the numbers for many land animals such as coyotes, turkeys, deer, and even bear. They are all now appearing even in the suburban areas of southern New England close to the cites. A bear the other day opened the door of a car and tried to get inside before being stopped by the woman passenger in Narragansett, RI of all places. A bobcat attacked a golfer in SE Ct back in April. These human interactions with wildlife are becoming more frequent in New England. This is not something you saw just 20 years ago.

[gentlearts]

We went to the Cape, like Chatham, and Misquamicut, RI, and didn’t worry, and never saw a seal, ever. ...or a shark either. Since I left, in the 60s, MA has become totally wacko, politically, so I suspect that somehow, they’ve regulated themselves into things that bring seals and sharks.

To expect “the government” to fix it is like asking the fox to watch the hen house.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

We went to the Cape, like Chatham, and Misquamicut, RI, and didn’t worry, and never saw a seal, ever. ...or a shark either. Since I left, in the 60s, MA has become totally wacko, politically, so I suspect that somehow, they’ve regulated themselves into things that bring seals and sharks.

To expect “the government” to fix it is like asking the fox to watch the hen house.

Yes, the MA government is a little bit too extreme even for me, in some ways.

By "government" I think I mean because Cape Cod National Seashore is a National Park. So I think the national government would be the one to do something. For towns outside the national seashore, I don't know if the individual towns will be able to afford to do anything. But I do think something needs to be done.

The tourist industry is very important along the coastline and that's the reason something needs to be done. People make their livings on the tourist industry. It could be just me, but if I had little kids, I wouldn't be taking them to a beach with sharks. The sharks can come surprisingly close to shore, so you don't have to be out swimming in over your head water to get bitten. A lot of people would still go to the Cape because it's so beautiful, the seafood is great, the salt air, etc.

But other towns off Cape that don't have much to offer besides the ocean setting, would lose out on tourists. People would start going more to the mountains and lakes. At Quabbin Resevoir they did have a deer kill because of overpopulation of deer. A similar thing might need to happen with the bears--where I lived 20 years ago in WMass, deer were coming into people's kitchens for food and where I live now, a bear got into a car and tore it all apart inside. Maybe we're encroaching on their land or maybe it's that we don't hunt them anymore or maybe it's lack of natural predators for some reason, but probably the state government will have to get involved. If not the federal or state government helping the state, then who? No individual can do it on their own.

[MMS02760]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

We went to the Cape, like Chatham, and Misquamicut, RI, and didn’t worry, and never saw a seal, ever. ...or a shark either. Since I left, in the 60s, MA has become totally wacko, politically, so I suspect that somehow, they’ve regulated themselves into things that bring seals and sharks.

To expect “the government” to fix it is like asking the fox to watch the hen house.

?????

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

We went to the Cape, like Chatham, and Misquamicut, RI, and didn’t worry, and never saw a seal, ever. ...or a shark either. Since I left, in the 60s, MA has become totally wacko, politically, so I suspect that somehow, they’ve regulated themselves into things that bring seals and sharks.

To expect “the government” to fix it is like asking the fox to watch the hen house.

Chatham is FULL of seals. There are seal tours run out of Chatham. We took one last summer with my daughter and her boyfriend when they were visiting from your town. It was fun, we didn't see any sharks, though.


Beachcomber Tours for seal watches and private harbor tours around Chatham, Pleasant Bay and water taxi to North Beach on Cape Cod.

[Cape Cod Todd]

The thing is we have people that are concerned that the sharks are scaring away tourists and they are convinced that if another attack should occur that the tourists will leave for good.



I say that many people that come to the Cape are looking for sharks and they hope to see one, The number of people that actually go in the water is a fraction of the crowds that come to the Cape so if we do have another case of mistaken identity and a swimmer is bitten I don't think that people will cancel their vacation plans.



Something needs to be done and soon because there are far too many seals that are eating fish, pooping great piles of waste and attracting potentially dangerous sharks.

[chicagoliz]

I'm not a native New Englander, so New England beaches haven't appealed to me for a significant vacation simply because the water is too cold and if the water is too cold to go in, there isn't much point in going to the beach for me. I like to go in the water.

I think the Cape is very nice, but the price and hassle usually keep me away from visiting it much.

Sharks aren't really a factor for me, as sharks could show up anywhere. I can't say I wouldn't worry, though, if we had a beach vacation planned and the week before there were shark attacks from that town where we were staying on the news.

I would think that people who had always gone to the Cape for their vacation wouldn't change. But, I'm sure there are some people who would stay away due to the reports. Some people cancel or refuse vacations for the lamest of reasons. Are there people who would book a Cape vacation hoping to see a shark? That I don't know.

I do agree, though, that sharks have become a pretty ubiquitous tourist theme for virtually anyplace with a shoreline. (Heck, I even got a t-shirt from Lake Michigan last year that proclaimed the lack of sharks, with the shark outline nonetheless.) I know I have several magnets and t-shirts and other tourist kitsch with sharks from various places I've visited, even though I personally never saw a shark at those places.

[gentlearts]

So, to update...I checked with my MA brother in law, who has lived there his whole life and gone to Cape Cod every year. He has never seen a seal either. He said they’re on Monomoy, off Chatham, which is not accessible accept by boat.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

So, to update...I checked with my MA brother in law, who has lived there his whole life and gone to Cape Cod every year. He has never seen a seal either. He said they’re on Monomoy, off Chatham, which is not accessible accept by boat.

Seals are all over the place at Salisbury Beach now. People are starting to see Great Whites there too. So far no human contact though, just some amazing photographs.