SPECIAL REPORT: Great White Shark on the Central Coast

If you’re a shark fan, then you know Shark Week is in full swing.

As it turns out, we’ve got quite a few sharks of our own right here on the Central Coast. Sharks are one of the most feared aquatic animals, and they are no stranger to the Monterey Bay. And Moss Landing-based expert David Ebert has something to say about that. “I’ve done research all over the world including South Africa and Australia and places that are known for having white shark populations. But I have never seen so many, in such short distances, then I have in the Monterey Bay… which is my home.”

Experts say two trends have emerged: great whites are showing up earlier in the year, and they’re seeing more juveniles pushing up from southern California. Ebert says they don’t know exactly why there are so many, but he has some ideas. “I think the fact that we are seeing such a healthy shark population out there, I think it speaks really well of just the health of the bay in general. You have a lot
of these top predators out here, they wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t all the food for them to feed on below.”

While sharks can be seen all over the Central Coast, there are the locations where they are
being spotted the most. From Marina State Beach all the way to Año Nuevo State Park. With lifeguards saying the hot spots are the concrete ship at Seacliff to New Brighton State Beach.

Those spots now have extended shark advisories, until things change. This can bring a scare for some. Marin resident, Dan Herz says, “It’s kinda funny because anyone who doesn’t surf and I tell them I surf, that’s the first thing they say is, ‘you know you are crazy,’ or ‘you are going to get eaten by a shark.'”

But even the ‘sharkie’ waters, the chances of getting bit are still very low. Ebert says, “Since 1950, in the last 70 years now we’ve had on average 3 to 4 attacks a year, in California. Where the population has gone from about 15 million people to about 40 million people, but the number of attacks have stayed about the same.”

And of the people who enjoy the ocean… surfers are high on the list. Dan Herz has surfed all over the Monterey Bay. He says he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. “I’ve been surfing my whole life, and I’ve seen very few shark. I feel like the chance of actually seeing a shark, letting alone getting hit by a shark is so infinitesimally small that for me it is worth the fun.”

But there are some places that you do have a higher risk of seeing a shark.

Ebert says, “I hate to say they are some places I wouldn’t be out like I generally wouldn’t go out at Año Nuevo cause there tends to be a lot there.”

Chris Tomkins is a ranger at the park. He says, “We do see, and I have seen, a number of serious shark bites on elephant seals who have come on shore with these massive great ripped open wounds. So yeah, they are out there. Down at cove beach where everyone surfs, hopefully not so much, but that’s what happens when you are a surfer you go out there and take your chances.”

But Chris says most stay further out, and people tend to exaggerate. “A previous ranger who lived here
in the park… he surfed every day at cove beach for 25 years and he saw fins twice.”