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As the summer days wind down, travelers are still hitting the beaches to take dips in the ocean.
Those in the Northeast may face a greater risk of shark attacks as new data shows an increase in great white sightings.
The Oqunquit Fire Department (OFD) in Maine shared a shark advisory last week on its Facebook page.
BEACHES WITH MOST SHARK ATTACKS AS AMERICANS PAY TRIBUTE TO ‘JAWS’ AND ACTIVIST WEIGHS IN
“A credible sighting of a 6–8-foot great white shark was reported approximately 200 yards off Little Beach near the mouth of the river,” OFD wrote.
Officials put up a yellow flag on Aug. 19 to caution beachgoers and remind people to “follow posted advisories.”
A great white shark was recently spotted at the beginning of this month by a drone showing the shark swimming in water near Scarborough, Maine.
About 93 great white sharks have been detected in Maine since late August 2020, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
“Shark behavior is clearly shifting.”
In July, the largest great white shark in the Atlantic was recorded near Nantucket, Massachusetts, stretching nearly 14 feet in length, Fox News Digital previously reported.
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There has also been an increase in great white sharks near the waters of Nova Scotia, Canada, according to a Marine Ecology Progress Series paper published in Inter-Research in May.
Researchers attribute the increase to an overall growth in the population of great whites between the years 2019 and 2021.
They also say it could be due to “changes in habitat use that cause the population distribution to shift northward during warmer months.”
There have been 47 unprovoked shark bites globally in 2024, with 28 taking place in the U.S., according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF).
Activist Julie Andersen, founder of the New York-based Shark Angels, previously told Fox News Digital that several beach communities are seeing higher numbers of sharks this summer.
“Based on trends over the past few years, shark behavior is clearly shifting,” she said.
“From the West Coast to the East Coast and even parts of Mexico, sightings are increasing in places like California, Cape Cod, the Carolinas, Florida, and Baja.”
Andersen said that in places like California or Cape Cod, Massachusetts, white shark populations are rebounding “thanks to decades of protection.” She said their return is a sign of healthier oceans.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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