In August 2013, a 2,300-pound great white shark was caught off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts and was eventually fitted by researchers from the Ocearch with a satellite tracking device that allowed them to track and show the animal's position as it navigates its way in the ocean.
The shark, which was called Katharine in honor of Cape Cod native Katharine Lee Bates who is best known for her poem and song "America the Beautiful," is not the first shark to be tagged by OCEARCH, a nonprofit organization that track sharks for research purposes. The group has already tagged about 150 sharks since 2007 but Katharine has proved to be a magnet for attention with a Twitter set up for her boasting of over 17,000 followers.
The shark has travelled over 10,000 miles since she was tagged and after spending the fall in the northeast, the 14-foot shark is escaping the area because of the cold winter temperatures. It is now back to Florida appearing near Jacksonville on Saturday.
Ocearch said that Katharine's tracker in her dorsal fin indicate that she was at the surface east of Ponte Vedra Beach just before 5 p.m. Prior to this, her tracker indicated that she was off Fernandina Beach. Katharine appears to be headed east from Ponte Vedra and has travelled over 40 miles over the previous 24 hours.
Earlier this week, Katherine was in the territorial range of another great white tagged by Ocearch. Mary Lee is two feet longer than Katharine. Weighing 3,456 pounds, Mary Lee is also significantly heavier than Katharine, who weighs 2,300 pounds.
The Great Whites are among the top predators of the ocean but while they are popularly depicted in movies attacking humans, shark attacks are relatively rare. Attacks however do occur, in New Jersey, there have been five shark attacks, two of which were fatal. Massachusetts also had one shark-attack related fatality in 1926.
Although sharks tend to stay a few miles offshore, Ocearch alerts local beaches if one of the sharks that it has tagged gets near the shore. In January 2013, for instance, lifeguards at a popular surfing spot in Jacksonville were alerted when the 16-foot Mary Lee came near the area.
The great white shark is the largest known predatory fish in the world. It has 300 teeth that it uses to rip its prey which include small fish, large seals and dolphins.
