As New England waters warm, what does the northward movement of sharks mean for the people and ecosystems sharing those waters?

Scarborough Beach, Maine Lifeguard Greg Wilfert was swimming a mere 50 yards from shore this summer and close to the offshore buoys when he was pulled about six feet underwater by a Great White Shark. The 55-year veteran lifeguard survived the attack physically unharmed, but the event provoked many questions from across New England’s coastline. Maine is a state that has only one reported death via shark attack, but over recent years these attacks and sightings seem more frequent and closer to home. Why are Great White Sharks so close to shore? Are our beaches safe? The answer is not simply a coincidence or a rare change in one shark's behavior. In fact, the changes in shark behavior on the East Coast are hard to ignore, especially after this summer. Sharks off Cape Cod, Rhode Island, Maine, and other New England coastlines are appearing earlier than normal, in different spots than past summers, and are moving closer to the shore, according to Boston Globe journalist Shannon Larson.

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