The large number of white sharks is growing significantly in the Gulf of Monterey

Researchers have found a “dramatic increase” in the number of white sharks swimming in Monterey Bay in recent years, including an area in Santa Cruz County where a surfer was killed last year, according to a new study released Tuesday.

Minor white sharks – younger animals between 5 and 9 feet long – which have traditionally been concentrated in the warm waters of northern Mexico and southern California have moved north since 2014 as the water temperature warmed, the study found.

Where once there were no young white sharks observed in the ocean between Manresa State Beach in Aptos and New Brighton State Beach in Capitola, there are now dozens seen each year, according to research by scientists at Monterey Bay Aquarium, Duke University and California. State University of Long Beach. They swim there in groups between April and October, sometimes a few feet from shore and other features, such as the “Cement Ship,” a wrecked boat on a pier at Seacliff State Beach. Sharks have been photographed regularly swimming near humans, who often have no idea that powerful creatures are so close.

“We saw sharks right under the surfers – just a few feet away,” said Chris Gularte, chief pilot of Specialized Helicopters, a Watsonville travel company that regularly flies over the area. “When the water is warm and they come to the gulf, you can see them swimming next to people all day. The oarsmen and kayakers will go up to them and will not realize that they are there. ”

Gularte said he had not seen sharks in his helicopter at more famous surf spots in Santa Cruz, such as Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz or Pleasure Point near the Capitol. He said he saw an increasing number of sharks at the mouth of the Salinas River and in the San Francisco Bay.

In a tragic interaction in May, 26-year-old surfer Ben Kelly from Santa Cruz was bitten about 100 meters from the shore at Manresa State Beach in Aptos. The bite took place behind the right knee, hit an artery and bled to death. An investigation by wildlife state biologists found that the shark was at least 10 meters long, longer than the young ones that mostly gathered a few kilometers north.

Researchers said Tuesday that such attacks are rare. The influx of young sharks into northern California, they said, is indicative of major ocean changes in production due to climate change affecting many species.

“What happened here was really weird, different and unusual and not what we’re used to,” said Kyle van Houtan, chief scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “Monterey Bay is famous for cold water, algae, otters, anchovies and whales. One thing that has not been here is the young white sharks. But in the last five years or so, everything has changed. “

In Southern California, scientists tagged 53 young white sharks with transmitters last year, said Chris Lowe, a marine biologist at Cal State Long Beach. The labels send a signal as they approach four special buoys off Santa Barbara, Huntington Beach, Long Beach and San Clemente, and beach lifeguards receive a text warning them that sharks are in the area.

Lowe said he is working with officials at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to try to establish a similar system from Seacliff State Beach to New Brighton State Beach, an area that locals are increasingly calling “Shark Park.”

He noted that great white sharks generally avoid humans, and when they bite someone, it is almost never a sustained attack. It’s a unique bite and then it leaves.

“We don’t really know the motivations of sharks when these things happen,” he said. “At best, we think the shark made a mistake – they thought they were chasing a fish or a seal.”

After they are born, large white sharks remain in the warm waters near the shore to feed on fish, rays and squid, said Sal Jorgensen, a marine researcher at UC Santa Cruz and co-author of the study, which was published in Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed journal from Nature publishers.

After two or three years, they grow more than 10 meters long and swim to deeper and colder waters. Their teeth widen and become more serrated. They reach 17 to 19 feet in size and eat sea lions and other marine mammals, often in colder waters in places such as the Farallon Islands.

The “shark nurseries” in which they grow were usually south of Santa Barbara County. But after the Pacific Ocean on the west coast warmed considerably in an event known as the “Blob” in 2014, warmer conditions shifted north, scientists discovered. The warm conditions endured through the El Niño events of 2015-16 and 2018-19 and continue today.