A shark expert says this US coastline could be the next danger zone for great white shark attacks

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August 1, 2017 10:25 PM

Rising seal populations are bringing sharks with them.

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George Burgess, the director for the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History and contributor to "SharkFest," explains how rising seal populations in New England could lead to a greater number of interactions between people and sharks. Following is a transcript of the video.

So if you’re swimming out there or surfing, you’re asking for it.

My name is George Buress. I serve as the director for the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum, which is part of the University of Florida.

Certain places are certainly more dangerous than others, if you’re going to bring your family or yourself into the water. Off of New England now, white sharks are beginning to come back because seal colonies are now coming back. In the 1800s, 1700s, in the United States, there were very abundant populations of seals and sea lions and they were hunted a lot.

Back in 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act was enforced in the United States, which allowed all these animal to begin their recovery. And we’re seeing the benefits of that legislation now, as many of these sea mammals are returning to former areas that they once lived in and returning to levels of abundance closer to what they once had.

Of course as that happened, a large predator, such as a white shark, which loves these things as meals as adults are going to be following. While we’re happy to get those sea mammals back, we need to be cognizant that some of these large predators now will be nearby.

And beaches that we have owned for a hundred years because there are no seals around are now going to be inhabited by those seals. And we may to move up down the beach to go swimming from now on.

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