Gulf Great Whites

LISTEN: (5 Min, 21 Sec)

 

“LEEBETH” MIGHT SOUND LIKE the name of a girl who lived down the street in your youth.

The name certainly has an endearing quality with a twinge of Southern charm.

And that makes sense, considering she first came to public awareness off the coast of South Carolina. In case you haven’t figured it out, “LeeBeth” isn’t the girl next door, but a 2,600 pound great white shark caught, fitted with a satellite transmitter from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC), and released by Capt. Chip Michalove on December 8, 2023.

Over the next two months, her journey into Texas Gulf waters became a media sensation. She showed up on February 24, 2024, just 200 yards off the beach at South Padre Island, and then we broke the story of this huge shark showing up off the coast of Sabine Pass on March 7.

This shark has brought attention to her kind and to an organization whose sole focus is to educate and inspire people about them.

AWSC, based on Cape Cod, aims to “support scientific research, improve public safety, and educate the community to inspire white shark conservation.”

“LeeBeth” made thousands aware of the group’s App, “Sharktivity.”

According to AWSC officials, the App was developed with input from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, the Cape Cod National Seashore, and officials from Cape Cod and South Shore towns to raise awareness of the presence of white sharks off their coast.

“The App sightings are fed by researchers, safety officials, and users who upload photos for confirmation. By enabling App users to report shark sightings and upload photos for confirmation, we are effectively crowd-sourcing critical data points on where sharks are spotted so as to reduce encounters and promote safety. Data from sharks with acoustic tags and Smart Position and Temperature Tags (SPOT) are also available on the App. Public sightings submitted through Sharktivity will be verified by the New England Aquarium.”

Additionally, through the AWSC and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), acoustic detection data for tagged white sharks off the coast of Massachusetts and a catalog of over 600 tagged and untagged individual Northwest Atlantic white sharks identified by AWSC can be explored through the White Shark Logbook.

AWSC also does educational outreach, special shark-centric eco tours and an important and often (in my opinion) missing factor in shark awareness-safety.

Let’s face it. Great white sharks are the largest predatory fish on the planet, and they occasionally attack humans. Making people aware of them is important for both the sake of people and sharks.

For example, I had no idea there are purple flags that identify great white presence in an area. I learned that from AWSC.

“We love interacting with the public to raise awareness of these amazing creatures,” said AWSC Senior Scientist Megan Winton.

“These are truly incredible animals, and we want to help raise their conservation profile and to educate people about potential interactions.”

AWSC has been mostly involved on the East Coast, but they are already helping the cause along the Gulf Coast, where white shark sightings are on the rise.

This is proven by AWSC’s tagged sharks along with that of another top research group called Ocearch.

“We still have much to learn about great whites and their movements, and what we’re seeing in the Gulf of Mexico has been interesting to so many people, myself included. It makes us want to do more to raise awareness of these truly amazing animals,” Winton said.

“LeeBeth” would most certainly be proud.

This whole story has great personal importance to me since I have been a lifelong fan of the species since seeing “Jaws”, watching Jacques Cousteau ocean specials and reading a book from Time Life’s Wild, Wild World of Animals series called “Dangerous Sea Creatures” as a kid.

In 2005, I began researching whites in the Gulf thanks to my friend Capt. Ryan Warhola having an incredible encounter with one on an offshore charter out of Sabine Pass.

After the story of the white pinging at Sabine hit, I got a text from him.

“And to think no one believed us back in the early 2000s.”

This is all about shark conservation and raising awareness of how important the Gulf of Mexico is from an ecological standpoint.

Great white sharks have always been in the Gulf but thanks to conservation measures (prohibiting harvest and net removal) we are seeing more. And the new tagging technology is making us far more aware the Gulf is currently part of some of the Atlantic great white’s range.

I remember standing on 61st St. Pier in Galveston when I was 12 asking my Dad if he thought there were any great whites out there. 

“Maybe so, son.”

Now that I know for sure, I can’t help but feel more than a little bit like that young boy, excited about what discoveries are headed for the Gulf of Mexico and its great white sharks.

 

Email Chester Moore at cmoore@fishgame.com

 

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