White sharks have long enthralled the public. In fact, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s classic movie "Jaws," a coming out party for the white shark, so to speak. In the half century since "Jaws," much has changed for this fish. Given its naturally low population density and long lifespan, NOAA Fisheries designated the white shark as a prohibited species in 1997.
Today, most scientists agree that white shark populations have benefited from this protection. Yet as white sharks continue to recover, they may start occupying areas where they were historically rare. Recently, reports of white sharks have increased in the northern Gulf, but determining whether these reports represent actual changes in distribution is difficult.
To examine this, we analyzed two long-term fishery-independent camera datasets to assess whether the recent increase in reports of white sharks reflects changes in distribution or typical (albeit rare) events. Between 2010 and 2023, no white sharks were detected on cameras off the Alabama coast. But that all changed recently.
In April 2024, a female white shark, approximately 8 feet long, was recorded by an ROV off coastal Alabama. Shortly after, a male white shark, approximately 6 feet long, was also recorded by an ROV off coastal Alabama.
So what does this mean? For those of us in Mississippi and Alabama, fear not; a white shark encounter is still very unlikely. Or to put it another way, you’re not going to need a bigger boat.
To read more about these white shark sightings, and to access video clips of these two individuals, click the link here for our recent publication.
Meet the author
(J.) Marcus Drymon, Ph.D.
Marine Fisheries Extension Lead
Marcus is a marine fisheries ecologist, and his research interests are in applied fisheries ecology. The bulk of his research has focused on coastal sharks. He works on many commercially and... Read more
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