After the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts in more than 80 years, and concerns for public safety at an all time high, Dr. Greg Skomal from Massachusetts Marine Fisheries leads a ground breaking new study to find out how white sharks hunt close to shore.  Over the summer of 2019, working with Megan Winton and John King from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, Greg tags 5 white sharks; Scarface, James, Luna, Ninja and Scrapper with a state of the art tags. The data they record enables Greg  to reconstruct how and where white sharks hunt in 3-D and identify which beaches could be most at risk.  

In a roller coaster, summer of white shark revelations, Greg reveals how  the Cape’s sharks hunt close inshore using their underwater terrain to stalk their prey.  Beaches with deep water close to shore, seals and murky water are especially high risk.  The tags also show that each shark has very different behavior. 14 foot James is territorial and patrols an area south of Chatham.  Scarface, a 12 foot male closes Nauset and then heads north towards Provincetown. The smaller females, Ninja, Luna and Scrapper are much more mobile travelling up and down the length of Cape Cod.  They give Greg his biggest clue that it’s the younger, more immature sharks that could be the greatest danger to the public. At up to 11 feet long, they are inexperienced seal-hunters, ‘Are these the sharks that are more prone to make a mistake and bite someone?’ asks Greg.

From discovering how Atlantic White sharks behave in a storm, to what they do at night- WICKED SHARKS is packed with brand new shark week firsts.