Shark, Sharks, and Stakeholders

 "'I think there's a growing understanding that the beauty of this area is that you are taking risks .... what brings the beauty to this place is the wildness, the re-wilding,  is what brings people here .... "

 — Dr. Andrea Bogomolini

Chair, Northwest Atlantic Seal Research Consortium

What is the Rebounding Seal and Shark Populations study?

Opinions abound about the growing population of seals and sharks in the waters surrounding Cape Cod.  In April 2022, the Woods Hole Sea Grant funded a collaborative research project to look into the attitudes of stakeholders — specifically voters, fishermen and tourists. The study yielded some surprising and reassuring findings.

This long-form reporting (23:50) explores what the study found as they looked at the perceptions and beliefs of the humans impacted by the re-wilding of Cape Cod waters.

Why did the study look at human stakeholders and their views of seals and sharks?

Humans decimated the North Atlantic population of both gray seals and white sharks. More recently, protections have helped the populations rebound - and created an inevitable clash of species and values ... along with many misconceptions and perceptions.

The research explored human interactions with sharks and seals, as well the different perceptions of these interactions, to better understand what the "re-wilding" of Cape Cod means and how humans respond to the shark and seal population growth.

 Watch the full video:

Sharks, Seals, and Stakeholders