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On December 5, the Associated Press published an article that quotes James Sulikowski, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Marine Sciences, about the detection of a great white shark off the coast of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, in September.

Sulikowski collaborated over the summer with Greg Skomal, senior scientist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, to search for great whites.  

The 12-foot specimen spotted in September is one of the sharks that Skomal fitted with tracking devices during the summer of 2016. According to the article, this is the fifth great white known to have migrated north to the Maine coast since 2012.

Sulikowski stated that the warming of the Gulf of Maine’s waters and the appearance of great whites over consecutive summers indicates that the animals might make Maine a more frequent visitation site. “If I was a betting person, I would suspect that in the next three or four years, or maybe sooner, there’s going to be a greater presence of these sharks up here,” he predicted. “Whether our area is sort of a stop-over and they spend a couple days here or a couple months is what we’re trying to figure out.”

Sulikowski and Skomal intend to collaborate again this coming summer.

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To learn more about the University of New England’s Center for Excellence in the Marine Sciences, visit www.une.edu/research/msc

To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions