Great White Shark Population Growing: Now Totaling 300 Individuals Off Northern California's Coast

Science reports recently came out with some good news stating that a new study showed the great white shark population off the coast of Northern California is healthy and, more importantly, growing.

In its report, Live Science specified that an analysis of the great whites, also called Carcharodon carcharias, off the northern coast sees a stable adult population and a small uptick in the number of subadult sharks, with a total of 300 individuals.

For their finding, the study authors used a seal decoy to attract the apex slayers to their bots so they could capture photos and count the sharks.

Strong populaces of huge predators are crucial to the health of the coastal marine system, said Taylor Chapple, co-author of the study and an Oregon State University a marine ecologist.

Their findings, therefore, are not just great news for the white sharks but for the rich waters as well, added Chapple.

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Great White Sharks

Essentially, great white sharks are found in coastal waters all over the world. They are threatened by overfishing, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and their global population is in decline.

Nevertheless, on the Pacific coast, the sharks appear to be doing well. Together with his team, Chapple originally published a population approximation for sharks off Northern and Central California in 2011.

This new study is an update of the previous estimation, with longer-term observations. In connection to this, the sharks discovered in the region do not stay in a single place.

Instead, they are found to have spent half the year in the Pacific's northeastern part, between Baja, Mexico, and Hawaii.

Then, they are spending the other half nearer the shore, ranging as far north as Washington and as far south as Mexico.

This science report said the largest populations exist close to the Guadalupe Island off Mexico and California Current, off Northern California. Such a current stretches from Monterey Bay in the south to Bodega Bay north of San Francisco.

Apprehensions Despite Shark's Overall Population

Between 2011 and 2018, Chapple's team conducted boat-based investigations at three sites close to Ano Nuevo, Southeast Farallon, and Tomales Point off the California coast.

They were able to collect over 1,500 photos in all and as great white sharks' underwater video footage through the dorsal fins to determine individual sharks and a more exact count.

Commenting on their finding, Chapple explained, every white shark has a distinctive dorsal fin. He added, it is like a bar code or a fingerprint.

A similar 1010 WCSI report said that such an individual identification also enabled the scientists to follow sharks, both males, and females, over a long time.

However, even though the total population appeared strong, the study authors expressed a slight apprehension to find that the adult female great white people is just roughly 60.

According to Paul Kanive, a Montana State University doctoral candidate, the finding underscores the necessity for constant monitoring of white sharks. There are few reproductively active female sharks that supply the population with additional sharks.

12-Month Gestation Period

There are lots of things that remain mysterious about the great white shark reproduction, but researchers believe the gestation period is roughly 12 months and that female sharks normally give birth to between two and ten pups at a time.

The probable growth of population could be the outcome of natural fluctuation, or it could specify that the shark protections in the region are working.

Findings of the study, Estimates of regional annual abundance and population growth rates of white sharks off central California was published in the Biological Conservation journal's May 2021 issue.

Restraints on gillnets, in particular, fishing nets are left in the water for the entangling of fish, might be improving the young sharks' survival rate. With this, Chapple said, more is needed to be done to shield the white sharks through their migratory path.

A similar report is shown on TODAY's YouTube video below: