Great Whites Spotted Near Mid-atlantic Beaches

Their names are Mary Lee, Katharine and Hilton. During the summer months, they like to hang out relatively close to beaches along the mid-Atlantic. They are great swimmers. And they feast on the flesh of gray seals. Also, they are great white sharks. Just in time for the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week,” as many people are seeking relief from the heat at beaches in Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey, OCEARCH, a nonprofit that tracks the movements of sharks, has logged a number of “pings” from great whites tagged with receivers in their dorsal fins. Les Kaufman, a Boston University biology professor and shark expert, said that while the number of sharks in the water is believed to be dropping, the kind of technology used by OCEARCH makes it easier for nonscientists to track them, including via an iPhone app. “Scientists know that the sharks are out there,” Kaufman said.