Thursday, 4:30 PM
A big shark is sighted, but expert says it was probably harmless
By Globe Staff
Chris Santarelli says he saw the largest shark he's ever seen in his 30 years of fishing yesterday about a half mile off of Newburyport at the mouth of the Merrimack River.
"You see that fin cutting through the water and it's, like, wow, it's so surreal you don't understand it," he said.
Santarelli, 43, of Rowley, estimated that the shark was 15 feet long and its fin stuck 2 feet out of the water. He and his father had just been talking about the recent great white shark sightings down on Cape Cod, so he wondered if the animal was a fearsome great white.
"All I'm saying is, it was a very big shark, almost as big as my boat," he said.
State shark specialist Greg Skomal said it's more likely that the fish was a basking shark, which bears a close resemblance to a great white and is much more common in Massachusetts waters right now.
The basking sharks can get to be over 30 feet long. Fortunately, it's a fairly docile, easily approachable animal that feeds on plankton, he said.
"Typically, when sharks get on the brain of the public, we start seeing an increase in the number of shark sightings," said Skomal, who noted his office is getting a flurry of calls about sharks.
The recent deaths of two seals off beaches in Chatham have been blamed on a great white. But the Globe reports today that hasn't dampened spirits of vacationers in the town.
