It’s not your typical fishing tale.
This week, a stunning white shark was spotted gliding along the Montauk coast, signaling the onset of summer.
The eye-catching drone footage captured this enormous creature swimming close to shore at the eastern tip of Long Island, surrounded by clear, green waters around 8:30 AM on Monday.
This majestic animal was seen merely a few hundred feet from the beach. Videographers observed that it traveled at about 35 miles per hour, moving gracefully through the water.
“It was really thrilling for me. I’ve been monitoring these waters for eight years, and this marks my first shark sighting of the season, and it’s the closest I’ve ever recorded a great white to the coastline,” someone noted on social media.
The video quickly attracted thousands of viewers, many of whom were astonished by the footage. However, a few expressed concern that the sharks might be venturing into waters that are typically more crowded during the spring.
Nevertheless, experts have insisted that such sightings are perfectly “normal.”
While the video doesn’t clearly show any hunting behavior, it’s worth mentioning that Montauk’s coastline is a popular feeding area for great whites.
Greg Metzger, chief field coordinator for the Shark Research Program at the South Fork Museum of Natural History, expressed excitement about the presence of white sharks in Long Island waters at this time of year.
He emphasized that this occurrence is neither unusual nor strange; it’s just part of their yearly migration patterns.
Metzger estimated the shark in the footage to be around 8 feet long. Although sharks reside in Long Island waters throughout the year, spring is typically when sightings of them are more frequent, likely due to an increase in various marine life.
In recent years, there have been more sightings for several reasons, one being the prevalence of drones capable of capturing stunning images like these. More and more people are equipped with technology to document such moments.
There’s also been a notable rise in shark prey, particularly Atlantic Menhaden, resulting from decades of conservation efforts, which has likely led to an increase in shark activity near the shore.
Moreover, the warming climate has resulted in an earlier onset of summer at Long Island, which could mean sharks are spending extended periods in New York waters.
Despite the rise in sightings, experts assure that the chances of shark encounters remain minimal. Metzger stated, “This is completely typical. There’s no reason for concern; this is just how it is this time of year.”
