If you’ve been by a beach in Orange County lately, there’s a pretty good chance that a great white shark was swimming somewhere nearby. Sightings of great whites are on the increase in the region, even becoming so numerous, near to shore, and concerning that miles of Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach were closed over the weekend.
A 12-foot-long great white was spotted just 300 yards away from the shore on Friday, prompting the most recent round of closures. A recent video has surfaced of a group of fishermen catching sharks while casting their lines off Huntington Beach Pier, according to the L.A. Times, and another fisherman spotted yet another great white not far away.
An increase in great whites in the area doesn’t surprise scientists who study the creatures. They attribute the uptick in shark activity to an improvement in Orange County’s water quality as well as the global warming of ocean temperatures.
While great white sharks are being seen more often and closer than usual, they’re by no means unprecedented in the area. Last year, the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach identified an entire pod of juvenile great whites who seemed to be making themselves at home in O.C. waters. There are at least 28 other tagged, known great whites in the region as well.
In 2015, there were a record-breaking 98 shark attacks on humans reported around the world, six of them resulting in fatalities. So, even though there hasn’t been a human killed by a great white in California in some time, we would still suggest that, should you see those "closed beach" signs, you move along to another beach rather than take the risk.
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