iStockphoto / Alessandro De Maddalena
Field biologists from the University of South Alabama were proud to announce they just documented a great white shark on an artificial reef in Alabama for the first time in 10 years.
Over that decade-long span, the University of South Alabama scientists have documented over 1,000 artificial reefs but this was the first time a great white shark was observed. They first encountered the 8-foot-long white shark estimated to be around 15-years-old in mid-April. The same shark was then seen on the artificial reef 10 days later.
Footage of the Alabama great white shark was shared by USA scientists in a press release and this new finding bolsters the belief that white shark activity may be higher in the Gulf of Mexico than previously suspected.
The artificial reef where USA scientists encountered the 15-year-old great white shark was in approximately 150 feet of water. Director of USA’s Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Dr. Sean Powers, says they “have surveyed over 1,000 artificial and natural reef areas over the last 10 years, providing scientific data to assist the State of Alabama in managing its offshore fisheries. This is our first documented sighting of a white shark.”
Anecdotally, I’ve heard from many friends in my hometown in SW Florida who have seen great whites when fishing 100+ miles offshore in the Gulf. I’ve also written about great white sharks being caught while fishing from the beach in the Florida Panhandle.
Also, back in March of last year anglers became the first-ever to catch a great white shark from the beach in Alabama. So we know these sharks come in close to the shore, it just isn’t necessarily clear why they are there and if it is for the same/similar reasons that great white sharks lurk off Cape Cod in the Northern Atlantic.