Scratchy The Great White Shark Kicks Off The Season At Cape Cod

Scratchy, a 13-foot great white shark was recently seen at the coast of Cape Cod, kicking off the shark season. Named for the scratches on his body, he is the first beast spotted this season, but researchers were able to identify him because he still has a tag on its body from when he was tagged back in 2014.

Experts at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy said that the shark season began a little bit early - the first shark appeared June 22 last year. Despite Scratchy being the one to kick off shark season, the first one spotted in the area is actually an 11-foot female which according to The Cape Cod Times has not been previously identified and was "new and now part of the population study.

The Cape Cod News Center said that the shark was spotted about 300 yards off the shore of Monomoy, with a pool of blood nearby, as it appeared to have a piece of seal in its jaw.

This showed that the increased population of seal in the West of Cape Cod could be the reason for an early season. The seal population had been on the verge of extinction in the region just over four decades ago, but according to NHVoice, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 had been protecting the seals and their numbers have increased dramatically in the area.

Due to the seal numbers, the area had been attracting great white sharks, 80 of which have been tagged between the years 2009 and 2015. Dr. Greg Skjomal and his team have been hoping that they will have the opportunity to monitor and understand the movements of the sharks. The tagged sharks can be identified using video fingerprinting techniques that involved filming the creatures with GoPro cameras as they look for distinguishing marks and features.