Tag Archives: great white shark

Great White Education: “LeeBeth” The Shark Flies Banner For Conservancy

March 30, 2024 Chester Moore Leave a comment

“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.

Incase 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 and released by Capt. Chip Michalove of Outcast Fishing Dec. 8, 2023.

LeeBeth photo courtesy Capt. Chip Michalove.

Her journey into Texas Gulf waters over the next two months became a media sensation and not only brought attention to her kind but an organization whose sole focus is to educate and inspire people about them.

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC) based out of Cape Cod has set out 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 that 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 whites sharks are the largest predatory fish on the planet and they do 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.

You can learn much more about white shark safety here.

“We love interacting with the public to raise awareness of these amazing creatures,” said AWSC research 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 research group called Ocearch.

“We still has 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 be proud.

Chester Moore

For more information on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy click here.

Follow Chester Moore and Higher Calling Wildlife® on the following social media platforms

@thechestermoore on Instagram

Chester Moore’s YouTube.

Higher Calling Wildlife on Facebook

Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

Subscribe to the Dark Outdoors and Higher Calling Wildlife podcasts on all major podcasting platforms.

Great White Sharks, Great White University

Great White Shark Shows Up South of New Orleans

March 16, 2024 Chester Moore Leave a comment

A 14 foot, 2.600 pound great white shark has showed up south of New Orleans, La. just a few miles away from the South Pass area.

“LeeBeth”, was fitted with an Atlantic White Shark Conservancy satellite tag by Capt. Chip Michalove off the coast of South Carolina Dec. 8, 2023.

Since then this massive shark has taken an epic trip from the Atlantic to near the Texas/Mexico border at South Padre Island to the Texas/Louisiana border south of Sabine Pass and now in the Mississippi River Delta region.

*Scroll down to read about exclusive reports from the Chandeleur Islands!

Leebeth pinged, which means she breached the surface where a satellite could pick up the signal 8:15 a.m. Friday March 15.

She is not the only great white that has visited the area this year.

“Crystal” and “Keji”, both great whites tagged by research group Ocearch showed up in the same general area in January.

The idea of great white sharks in the Gulf of Mexico might seem strange but it is part of their native range.

Leebeth’s last ping at the time of this writing. Download the Sharktivity app from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy to keep up with her movements.

Harvest regulation changes in the 1990s have allowed more of these sharks to reach maturity and venture from the Atlantic where researchers believe they are born and enter the Gulf.

NOAA has some extremely interesting older data on great whites in the Gulf of Mexico. Their earliest recorded white shark I could find was off the coast of Sarasota, Fla. on a set line in the winter of 1937. Another specimen was caught in the same area in 1943.

In February 1965, a female was captured in a net intended for bottlenose dolphins at Mullet Key near St. Petersburg. In addition, National Marine Fisheries Service officials reported 35 great whites as bycatch in the Japanese longline fishery in the Gulf from 1979 through 1982.

In the 1963 book Shadows In the Sea; Sharks, Skates & Rays, the presence of great whites in Texas waters as far back as the 1950s is mentioned.

A great white shark seven feet long was caught in 15 fathoms, 12 miles off of Port Aransas, TX on Feb. 9, 1950. Seven days later, a second great white 11 feet, 4-inches long was caught in the same area. And 10 days later, a third, this one 12 feet, 2 inches long, was caught there. Yet, there has never been a previously reported catches in Texas waters.
Interestingly, the story we did on the whites shark at Sabine Pass inspired two fishermen to report seeing great whites in the Chandeleur Islands which are very close to where LeeBeth and the other great whites pinged.

“I was wade fishing the Chandeleur Islands in 2006 in the aftermarth of Hurricane Katrina. The storm had washed away a bunch of mangrove in the surf but left little islands big enough to climb up on and stand in the surf which left about four to six feet of water beneath these little clumps.”

“So I’m standing on one and saw what I believed to be a great white the size of a Cadillac swim right in front of my little island. When I told the story to the guys I was with nobody believed me and convinced me I saw a big tiger shark. I’m pretty sure after these revelations I was right.”

Another angler reported seeing a white in the Chandeleur Islandes the same year.

“I saw one while wade fishing the Chandeleur Islands about a year after Katrina. It was right after I got back in the boat and it swam right by the boat about 10 feet off our starboard beam in about eight feet of water. It was shocking to say the least.”

These reports at this point while very credible are considered only anecdotal from a research perspective.

However, if white shark tagging research has shown us anything, it is angler stories of great whites from the past seem far more likely to be accurate now since we know without question, these magnificent sharks inhabit the Gulf.

Chester Moore

Acadiana Boat, Sport & RV Show

Mark your calendars for the Acadiana Boat, Sport & RV Show. Connect with everything from new boats to fish equipment and guided fishing trips. Check it out at Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino March 22-24.

Follow Chester Moore and Higher Calling Wildlife® on the following social media platforms

@thechestermoore on Instagram

Chester Moore’s YouTube.

Higher Calling Wildlife on Facebook

Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

Subscribe to the Dark Outdoors and Higher Calling Wildlife podcasts on all major podcasting platforms.

Gulf of Mexico

There Was Another Sabine Pass Great White Shark

March 9, 2024 Chester Moore 5 Comments

It was a phone conversation I will never forget.

“Hey Chester man, I need you to help me out,” said Capt. Ryan Warhola.

“Dude, aren’t you on an offshore charter today?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m calling on my satellite phone. I need to know what the difference is between a mako’s teeth and a great white’s teeth,” he said.

“The sharks look roughly similar but a mako has jagged teeth and a great white has basically perfect triangles. Plus, big whites have a whole lot more girth.”

“Oh my…”

There was silence for a moment and then a statement I never expected to hear.

“Chester, that means I’m looking at a great white shark. We pulled up to the rigs and it’s swimming around the boat,” Warhola said.

He was and is a very knowledgable angler and I believed him. His encounter set me on the path of an in-depth investigation on great whites in the Gulf that became a Texas Outdoor Writer’s Association award-winning article for Tide magazine.

The sighting was back in 2005 and then there was controversy over the topic. Some people, even despite, old historical records denied there ever being great whites in the Gulf.

Ten years later, Ocearch’s satellite-tagged sharks proved they were here and most recently, “LeeBeth,” a 14.1 foot, 2,600-pound female fitted with a satellite tag by Capt. Chip Michalove of Outcast Sport Fishing shocked shark lovers.

Tagged Dec. 8, 2023 in South Carolina, she showed in the surf at South Padre Feb. 26 and about 100 miles or so out of Sabine Pass on the Texas/Louisiana border March 7.

And that’s exactly where Warhola saw his great white.

I got a text from him after the story broke here at Higher Calling Wildlife®.

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

Warhola recounted his encounter while fishing at rig WC 268 58 miles from the Sabine Jetties. The rig has since been removed like many in the area but his memory remains vivid.

“I remember pulling up and all the rig workers were leaning over looking at the water. One yelled that there was a giant shark and about five minutes later it began swimming around the boat,” he said.

A lifelong love of great white sharks led the author to pursue his dream of cage diving with them. He did that in the Farallon Islands off the coast of California in 2002. The surf board he is holding was the bait. The damage you see here is from an 18 footer believed to weigh more than 3,000 pounds.

Warhola said the shark’s features were striking.

“i remember black eyes about as big around as a coke can. It had huge girth and those triangle-shaped teeth.”

Now we know not only from “LeeBeth” that is wearing a Atlantic Great White Conservancy tag, but also “Acadia”, an Ocearch-tagged great white that showed up 125 miles off the coast of Galveston in 2021, they do hang out in this part of the Gulf of Mexico

That is why these tagging programs are so important.

And although these recently confirmed Texas visits and scientific surveys of the past are insightful, I was the kid who saw Jaws and wanted to get in the water.

It’s not just about knowledge with whites. There is an awe factor.

I remember standing with my Dad staring at a full moon glimmering over the surf at the end of the 61st Street Pier in Galveston at age 12. I pondered whether there were any great whites in the Gulf and even in Texas waters.

“Maybe so,” Dad said.

Getting to break the story of Acadia in 2021 and LeeBeth’s arrival near my home waters has been a career highlight. It lets the little boy that’s still very much alive in me know that my wildest dreams can still come true.

And gives the professional wildlife journalist writing this blog inspiration to dig deeper.

There are things beneath the surface we don’t totally understand just yet.

And some of them grow to 3,000 plus pounds, sport a mouth full of razor sharp teeth and show up where the darn well please.

That might be at a rig off Sabine Pass or the surf at South Padre Island, TX.

If LeeBeth has shown us anything, it’s that when it comes to great white sharks, her kind is full of surprises.

Chester Moore

PS: If you want to go down a great white rabbit hole check out my friend Michael Maye’s blog about an alleged monster-sized one.

Acadiana Boat, Sport & RV Show

Follow Chester Moore and Higher Calling Wildlife® on the following social media platforms

@thechestermoore on Instagram

Chester Moore’s YouTube.

Higher Calling Wildlife on Facebook

Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

Subscribe to the Dark Outdoors and Higher Calling Wildlife podcasts on all major podcasting platforms.

Gulf of Mexico

Has “Mr. Ed” Has Killed More People Than “Jaws”?

July 18, 2018 Chester Moore Leave a comment

With “Shark Week” about to kick off, I thought it was timely to send out a post to give you some information you have to dig really deep to find.

I commend Discovery for their amazing shark coverage but you can only do so much on television in a week. The following information ranges from the esoteric to the criminally underreported.

Horse Vs. Shark

Sounds like a Syfy Original doesn’t it?

In reality I am talking statistics and according to the Centers for Disease Control sharks kill about one person in the United States annually. Horses kill around 20.

That won’t grab too many headlines because too many media figures and wealthy, influential people have horses but it is a fact.

Sharks are easy to sensationalize but in reality Mr. Ed’s kind has killed far more people than “Jaws”and its family in the United States.

Sashimi Specialist

Raw salmon with a splash of soy sauce and a bit of wasabi is one of my favorite food items. Raw salmon is also a favorite of a virtually unknown close cousin of the great white shark-the aptly named salmon shark.

Salmon_shark_nmfs — *Salmon shark fitted with a tag. Photo courtesy National Marine Fisheries Service.*

This shark dwells the waters of the northern Pacific and is a fairly common catch on Alaskan fishing vessels.

From the article Hot Blooded Predator in Alaska Fish & Wildlife News.

Ferocious fighters and fast swimmers, the salmon shark is a close cousin to the great white shark. The salmon shark, Lamna ditropis, belongs family Lamnidae with four other species: the great white shark, the shortfin and longfin mako sharks, and the salmon shark’s Atlantic counterpart, the porbeagle (or mackerel) shark.

According to The Conservation Institute these sharks are not only warm-blooded but super fast.

Salmon sharks (Lamna ditropis) are large, powerful, warm-bodied (endothermic), and streamlined predators adapted for high-speed swimming. Reports from the U.S. Navy have clocked salmon sharks exceeding 50 knots.

This would make the salmon shark one of the fastest fish in the ocean. They are reported to reach 11.9 feet (3.6 m) in total length (Eschmeyer et al. 1983, Compagno 1984). Most of the salmon sharks encountered in Alaskan waters (the northeastern Pacific) are surprisingly uniform: over 93% are females ranging from 6 1/2 to 8 feet (2 – 2.5 m) in length and roughly 300 pounds (136 kg). Salmon sharks in the 700 pound range have been reported by sport fishermen in Alaska.

These sharks are fascinating creatures that rarely come across swimmers or divers and strike fear only into the hearts of sockeye and chinook.

Underrated Biter

The common blacktip shark is never listed in Internet and television lists of the most dangerous sharks.

Yet as we reported in recent weeks if you look at the raw numbers from the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), you will see they should be.

While blacktips were only positively identified in one unprovoked fatality they were responsible for 29 total attacks.

chester shark 2.jpg — *The author with a huge blacktip shark caught and released off the coast of Venice, La.*

That puts only the great white, tiger and bull-the three species everyone recognizes as potentially dangerous above them. We wrote about this last year here but have some new insight.

ISAF has a category for requiem and lamniforems-attacks linked to those branches but not to exact species and those are both higher than the blacktip. But when it comes to identified sharks biting people blacktips rank fourth.

Period.

This is not to implicate the blacktip as a creature to be feared. It is however to question some of the shark attacks identified as bull and to lesser extent spinner sharks (which have 16 attacks attribute to them.)

Spinner sharks are nearly identical to blacktips and bull sharks and big blacktips can appear similar especially in murky water.

It’s an interesting thing to consider as millions of beachcombers, wade fishermen and divers hit coastal waters.

That’s it for now. Expect much more to come on sharks over the coming two weeks.

Chester Moore, Jr.

(To contact Chester Moore e-mail chester@chestermoore.com. To subscribe to this blog enter your email address in the box on the top right of this page.)

Gulf of Mexico

Great Whites of the Gulf

November 4, 2016 wildlifejournalist 1 Comment

The eyes.
Coal black.
Intense.
Ominous.
There is something powerful about the eyes of a great white shark.
In the 1975 blockbuster “Jaws”, obsessed shark hunter Capt. Quint describes them as “lifeless eyes…black eyes…like a doll’s eyes”.
As an 18 footer turned its eye to look at me while on a cage diving expedition to the Farallon Islands I quickly disagreed with Quint. Black they were but lifeless the sharks’ eyes were not.
They were filled with purpose. To kill. To eat. To survive.
Long believed extinct in the Gulf of Mexico or at least an extremely rare visitor, it seems there are survivors.
In 2014, “Katharine” and “Betsy”, two young great whites were verified in Gulf waters.

Both of these sharks were fitted with SPOT transmitters by research/conservation group OCEARCH. These tags communicate with satellites and when the information from those tags if fed back to OCEARCH, it allows the public to view their movements at OCEARCH.org.
When, Katharine, all 2300 pounds of her, staked out the stretch of coastline off of Panama City Beach, Fla., people paid attention. More than four million logged onto the OCEARCH website, crashing the server the week and causing a media firestorm.
“Those two sharks, Katharine in particular, drew an enormous amount of attention to great white sharks in a very positive way and the interactive nature of the site, gave people a way to see great white movements take place in a way never before possible,” said OCEARCH founder Chris Fischer.
“We are solving the life history puzzle of ‘Jaws’ out of the Cape Cod area for the first time in history and it has been interesting to see unfold.”
Cape Cod is one thing but the Gulf of Mexico? That’s the domain of bull sharks and black tips, not great whites. Right?
Wrong.
Great white populations are on the rise due to 20 plus years of gill nets being banned along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. These nets caught and killed many juvenile great whites that are born on the East Coast and migrate into the Gulf to feed.
The shallow, nearshore areas along the eastern seaboard and portions of the Gulf Coast, especially Florida are “nursery” areas where the younger sharks spend their time. Both Katharine and Betsy were tagged off of Cape Cod in August 2013 and covered thousands of miles of water before entering the Gulf.
In 2005 I wrote an article called “Jaws in the Gulf” for Tide magazine recalling historical references and at the time a recent sighting. The article was a bit controversial as great whites in the Gulf seemed too magnificent to believe.
Now it has been vindicated. But that’s not the point. Seeking out the mysterious is a big part of what we do.
The point is the most iconic shark in the planet is proven to inhabit the Gulf and could be on the rise. Fishermen and conservationists need to know so these great predators can be protected.
NOAA has some extremely interesting older data on great whites in the Gulf of Mexico. Their earliest recorded white shark was off the coast of Sarasota, Fla on a set line in the winter of 1937. Another specimen was caught in the same area in 1943.
In February 1965, a female was captured in a net intended for bottlenose dolphins at Mullet Key near St. Petersburg. In addition, National Marine Fisheries Service officials reported 35 great whites as bycatch in the Japanese longline fishery in the Gulf from 1979 through 1982.
Those sharks died but last year the first great white ever known to be caught from the surf was taken by an angler in Panama City Beach, Fla.
Instead of killing it, he fitted it with a tag, photographed and released it.
Knowing about great whites, their rarity and conservation problems is crucial so great whites meet happy endings when encountered by anglers-the user group most likely to see them.
It might seem counterintuitive to save something that can and occasionally does eat humans. But the fact is we need things like great white sharks to keep us humble, to remind us, we are vulnerable and to keep us in a sense of wonder.
That was the state I was in gazing out onto the Gulf of Mexico while fishing the 61st St. Pier in Galveston, TX with my Dad at age 12.
“It’s a shame we don’t have a lot of great whites off our coast,” I told him.
“Maybe we do. We just haven’ found them yet,” Dad replied.
Dad is gone now and I sure would like to tell him, they have been found. Great whites dwell the Gulf of Mexico and you never know. There might have been one cruising the surf just beyond that pier on that night so long ago.
It is entirely possible.

Chester Moore, Jr.

The Inspirational Voice Of Wildlife Conservation