Not too long ago, many of us had no idea how many sharks were around us. We knew they were out there, but no idea how many and what kind.
The recent tagging expeditions by Ocearch and others have given a a bit better picture about what might be out there. There are still a lot of questions to be answered, but it’s interesting to be able to click on a website and see where sharks might be swimming at the moment.
But that only covers white sharks. There are also many other different types that live off our shores.
They are rather fascinating creatures. Sharks have been around, pretty much unchanged for many years. They just have been doing their own thing, pretty much unnoticed. They do get noticed when they gather near people, or star in a Hollywood blockbuster, but since we don’t see them very often, they tend to not be on our mind.
People who study them generally think they are no where near the killers they are often made out to be. They are just trying to survive.
And really, when you think about how long they have been around and how little we really know about them, I guess we can say they’ve been doing a pretty good job of swimming under the radar.
So far this year, there have been six white sharks tagged by Ocearch. There are also others who are studying these sharks. One I know of is basically going out and taking pictures of them and studying them.
And there is also the fact that with possible warming of ocean waters, we may see even more of these creatures swimming around in our waters. Or, more likely, not seeing them.
But now we know they’re out there. I guess it would be nice to know more about them. If for no other reason than we can continue to coexist.
