Great white shark sighting closes popular North Shore beach in Massachusetts
IPSWICH - A great white shark sighting forced a popular beach on the North Shore of Massachusetts to temporarily close on Tuesday.
The sighting was confirmed off the east end of Crane Beach in Ipswich via the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy's "Sharktivity" app.
"There is a confirmed fin sighting at Crane Beach. The Beach is closed to swimming until further notice," read a social media post from The Trustees of Reservations, which operates Crane Beach.
Tuesday evening, Chris Moore, property director of Crane Beach and Castle Hill, announced the beach will be closed for swimming at least through Wednesday. "We continue to collaborate with local public safety officials to determine a safe reopening time, which we will announce as soon as possible. The beach remains open for all other recreation," he said.
Ipswich police officer Matt Bodwell first spotted the shark in about five to seven feet of water.
WBZ-TV's helicopter spotted the shark later Tuesday afternoon. It was being monitored by a nearby boat and by people from the beach.
North Shore shark sighting "not unusual"
Massachusetts shark biologist John Chisholm told WBZ-TV "it's not unusual" to see white sharks in the North Shore. He said there's been multiple sightings in just the past week.
"The sighting that came in the morning was right near the beach so we put up a shark alert," he said.
According to the Sharktivity app, there was also a confirmed sighting on Cape Cod about 100 yards south of Coast Guard Beach in Eastham.
Shark season peaking in New England
This is peak shark season, Chisholm said.
"Everybody thinks that they're just off the Cape, but they're throughout Massachusetts and Maine," he said. "Anywhere on the coast you can run into a white shark."
