A study by Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences found that sharks are now more likely hanging around New York shores for an extended period time, with some species lingering in northern waters nearly a month longer than usual.
"As ocean conditions get warmer, sharks like warm water, at least, you know, the ones that that sort of visit Long Island in the summer," said Oliver Shipley, an assistant professor at Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.
Shipley says he and his fellow team of scientists and researchers tagged 155 sharks along the east coast over five years, tracking their movements using underwater and sound signals.
They tagged six types of sharks, including the sandbar, sand tiger, dusky, white, common thresher shark and blacktip.
"It varied anywhere between one and 29 days, depending on the species and region," said PhD candidate Maria Manz.
She is leading the study.
"We were able to identify both sea surface temperature and photo period as very important drivers for their migration time, in which is another understudied aspect of sharks ecology is timing of migration," Manz said.
Although sharks are staying here longer along the ocean shore, researchers say there's no need to panic.
"It might seem like there's more sharks because we're seeing them for longer, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their numbers are up," Manz said. "It just means that we're seeing them."
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