Just off the coast of New York’s Hamptons, marine researcher Greg Metzger reels in a powerful young sand tiger shark. Working alongside a fellow scientist, he secures the female predator's tail to the side of the boat to gather tissue samples and attach electronic tracking equipment.
The shark's tough skin proves durable enough to snap a surgical scalpel during the process.
"It’s no surprise that they’ve been around since prehistoric times and they’re still going strong," Metzger says after stitching the incision and sending the animal back into the Atlantic.
The capture is part of a broader tagging program aimed at tracking local marine life and shedding light on one of the world's few documented great white shark nurseries.
In these coastal waters, young predators spend their early, vulnerable years feeding and growing. Similar white shark nurseries have been identified globally off California, Mexico, and Australia.
"It’s that initial fear of sharks that captures people’s imagination," says Metzger, who also teaches marine science at Southampton High School. "Hopefully, through educational opportunities like today, we’ll be able to show that these sharks are far from mindless eating machines."
To track the animals, scientists utilize several types of equipment. Certain devices transmit acoustic signals to coastal monitoring receivers, while others measure water temperature and depth for several months before automatically detaching.
Bradley Peterson, a marine scientist at Stony Brook University working with Metzger, notes that tracking data shows how far these animals travel throughout the year.
"Their tags are being detected in North Carolina and Georgia and Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, and then they’ll be back here the following year," he says. "So a lot of them are coming up here to get themselves fueled up and fattened up."
Rising water temperatures, likely driven by climate change, are also drawing a wider variety of tropical species north into Long Island waters during the summer, according to Frank Quevedo, executive director at the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center.
"We’re seeing more spinner sharks, more black tip sharks, more bull sharks," Quevedo says while presenting an interactive exhibit at the Bridgehampton museum. "These are temperate sharks that utilize this habitat when the food source is here. So right now is like prime time."
While sightings draw public attention, the waters surrounding Long Island have historically served as a sanctuary for marine predators. Peter Benchley’s novel "Jaws" was set in a fictional Hamptons resort town, though the iconic film adaptation was shot on location at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Data from the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History records no fatal attacks on Long Island. However, incidents involving swimmers in recent years have prompted local authorities to increase monitoring efforts, including deploying shark-spotting drones.
"There’s this huge misconception that there’s this surge of sharks in Long Island waters. These sharks have always been here," Metzger says. "A reason why we’re seeing more is because of technology. There are more drones. Everybody’s got a cell phone now."
Great white pups measure around 4 feet (1.2 meters) long and weigh up to 80 pounds (36 kilograms) at birth. Without maternal care, they must hunt independently from the start. The relatively shallow waters off Long Island give them safe access to schools of fish while keeping them clear of larger ocean predators.
"It’s just like in nursery school, where kids learn the basics," Quevedo explains.
As they mature, great whites venture farther north to feed on dense seal populations along Cape Cod, Massachusetts. But as coastal waters warm, researchers note that young whites are migrating into New England waters earlier, placing them closer to adult predators.
Historical fishing trends have also taken a heavy toll on populations. The arrival of "Jaws" over 50 years ago triggered a sharp rise in recreational shark hunting off the Hamptons. Because great whites do not reach reproductive age until their 20s or later, widespread fishing of younger sharks had severe consequences.
"When you kill a shark at a size of 10 years, that shark can only be a juvenile, never reproduced before," Quevedo says. "So you’re wiping out that whole species, that whole population."
Protective measures introduced over recent decades have helped white sharks and other species begin to recover, though populations remain below historical levels.
"The predators are the ones that are balance keepers," Quevedo says. "If we can protect apex predators around the world, you’re pretty much sustaining the world and keeping it as healthy as possible."
