Massachusetts had its first white shark sighting of the season last weekend, and officials are urging people to be “shark smart” ahead of Memorial Day.
On Sunday, a dead gray seal with a large wound was discovered on Lucy Vincent Beach in Chilmark on Martha’s Vineyard, authorities said in a press release from the New England Aquarium.
“It looked very clearly like a predation event for a ... migrating great white,” said Andrew Jacobs, an environmental technician for the Natural Resources Department of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), who inspected the bite the next day.
John Chisholm, an adjunct scientist at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, verified the bite was consistent with a white shark’s and logged it on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app, a public portal for tracking and reporting sightings.
“This is right on schedule,” Chisholm said. “Even though the highest activity occurs down east of the Cape, if you’re going in the water, you’re going in a white shark habitat no matter where you are on the Massachusetts coastline.”
He said swimmers should remain vigilant for possible sharks in shallow waters, avoid areas where seals and schools of fish are present, and remain close to emergency responders as they take to the waters this Memorial Day weekend. Some beaches have implemented shark precautions of their own to maintain safety, including shark patrols and closing access if a spotting is reported in the area.
Last year’s first white shark sighting also happened in early May, almost a year to the day, but on Nantucket. Between June and September of last year there were more than 150 reported white shark sightings in Massachusetts, according to Sharktivity data.
Still, shark predations in the waters around Martha’s Vineyard are rare, Jacobs said, and especially coming this early in the year. It’s likely the shark was simply on its way to the outer Cape and other areas with higher seal populations, he added.
While white sharks have always been native to Massachusetts waters, their sighting are increasing, Chisholm added, thanks to protections on their populations and for the seals they prey on.
Also, a factor is technologies such as tracking apps, which help create more verifiable shark reports, he said.
“Not even that long ago … if someone saw a shark, they would have to contact me, or I’d hear through the grapevine, and I’d have to track them down and interview them,” Chisholm said in an interview. “That may take days or weeks or months just to get one sighting.”
Peak shark activity occurs during the fall, he added, and last year at that time he was getting dozens of sightings reports per day, though the majority were not white sharks or were misidentifications.
According to the aquarium, more than 15 shark species roam the waters of New England at various times of the year.
Bryan Hecht can be reached at bryan.hecht@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @bhechtjournalism.