What happens when sharks attack? The blame game begins. That’s why the next victims of the First Great White Shark Attack of 2012 could to be the grey seal colonies on Cape Cod.
Americans were obsessed with sharks long before Jaws hit the nation’s bookstores in 1973 and movie theatres two years later. Peter Benchley’s magnus opus was likely based on a series of attacks in 1916 by a rogue shark at the Jersey Shore.
There are an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 seals living on Cape Cod. State biologists have documented increases in great white shark populations, and seals make for scrumptious treats for one of nature’s most fearsome predators. Now that officials have confirmed that a great white attacked Boston-bred, Denver resident Christopher Myers in waters off a Truro beach, the question turns to what humans can do to prevent more attacks.
The Cape Cod Times has thrown down the gauntlet regarding the “glut of seals.” The Times argues that it may be time to reconsider seal protections under the federal Marine Mamma Protectionl Act. The 1972 law was designed to reverse the decline in seal populations due to commercial fishing activity. Bounties on seals on the Cape drastically reduced their numbers in the 1970s because fishermen viewed seals as competition for their catches.
The newspaper’s suggestions include making the sandbars where seals haul out less hospitable or returning to a culling program. If swans on the Acushnet River, which runs into Buzzards Bay, can be killed to protect grasses and sea gulls eliminated to protect piping plovers, so the paper’s reasoning goes, why not get rid of the seals to deter great whites and protect swimmers?
Massachusetts isn’t alone in the culling debate. After recent fatalities in Australia, a debate erupted over killing not seals, but the sharks themselves, which are protected by law in the country’s waters. But scientists point out that many more people drown than get killed by sharks. Over the past 20 years, attacks in the Land Down Under have averaged one per year.
Until a strategy emerges, lower Cape towns are exploring what to do about lifeguard coverage and are trying to educate swimmers who are unfamiliar with the seals-equal-sharks equation. Bay State officials are skeptical about recent calls for shark nets to protect beaches since they believe that the nets give people a false sense of security. Calls for additional shark nets have also met with resistance in Australia, where the devices are more common. Plus, sharks have been known to find their way around the nets.
Then there’s this advice from Wired’s “GeekDad,” Brad Moon. When planning a vacation, people look at the possibility of severe weather; now they should also think about “extreme animals,” he argues. Just as campers know that they might encounter bears or poisonous snakes in the woods, swimmers need to factor in seals and sharks when venturing into Cape waters. Said Moon, “Just be prepared, know what you might be encountering, make adjustments where prudent and play it smart.”
For everyone else, the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” begins August 12.
–GABRIELLE GURLEY
BEACON HILL
Gov. Deval Patrick signs the jobs bill into law but vetoes a number of provisions expanding or extending state tax credits, CommonWealth reports. Patrick also vetoes for the second time an expansion of the state’s Gateway Cities program.
Former state treasurer Tim Cahill has opened a legal defense fund to help fight the corruption and fraud charges against him. If the experience of his former chief of staff, Al Grazioso, who was indicted on witness intimidation charges in the case, is any indication, Cahill should do well in Quincy at least.
CASINOS
The state gambling commission will begin accepting initial applications tomorrow from would-be casino operators — along with their $400,000 non-refundable fee. “It’s like a christening,” says the president of the Plainridge Racecourse, who is eager to drop his check into the offering basket.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
A group of minority Boston police officers charges on Greater Boston that the racist rantings in the union’s Pax Centurion newspaper are the tip of the iceberg and the city has tolerated racism for too long.
Scituate selectmen have suspended Maryanne Lewis, a former state rep and independent congressional candidate, from the town’s housing authority for refusing to sign financial reports that would lift a state freeze on housing funds.
Secretary of State William Galvin’s office orders all Ayer officials to receive training on the state’s Public Records Law, the Lowell Sun reports.
The head football coach of Plymouth North High School has agreed to step down but will remain the school’s baseball coach after he admitted he and his underaged son were drinking at a party for the baseball team this summer.
The town of Westport is looking to fill 26 vacancies on a variety of town boards.
ELECTION 2012
Keller@Large debunks Mitt Romney’s latest ad on President Obama’s order on work-to-welfare as fiction. The National Review also weighs in but does so in support of Romney and with a little revisionist history. Here is NPR’s analysis. The welfare gambit looks like a sop to blue-collar whites in swing states, a group Obama is already struggling with.
Scot Lehigh says the tax plan unveiled by Romney, “the GOP’s self-styled fiscal and economic answer man,” gets an “F” from independent tax policy experts.
In the run-up to the presidential election, the Globe looks at attitudes toward race in an area of western Pennsylvania once called “racist” and “redneck” — by its then-congressman, John Murtha.
Libertarian Daniel Fishman has enough signatures to get on the ballot in November against US Rep. John Tierney and his Republican challenger, Richard Tisei, the Salem News reports. WBUR’s Democratic political analyst, Dan Payne, says Tierney and Tisei offer clear choices on key issues.
US Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren backs off her comment that US Sen. Scott Brown should release tax returns for all 20 years he has been a public office-holder, the Associated Press reports (via Telegram & Gazette).
The Atlantic checks in on Chris Christie’s “summer of self-promotion.”
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Coffee prices, which were soaring last year and triggering price increases, have dropped 24 percent in the last year but consumers are not seeing the benefits in the cost of their daily cup of joe.
Andover selectmen approve a tax break for Schneider Electric, a company that plans to renovate an empty building and bring 600 jobs to town, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
The Republican argues that the real estate market has to improve before anyone can start talking about a true economic recovery.
EDUCATION
A federal Appeals Court upheld a ruling that schools cannot count cheerleading as a women’s sport to meet Title IX mandates. CommonWealth looked at the struggles of Massachusetts state colleges and universities to comply with Title IX in athletics in our fall 2010 issue.
The New England Conservatory is planning for a major expansion in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston where it is located.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signs into law a bill making it easier for school districts to weed out underperforming teachers, the Star-Ledger of Newark reports.
HEALTH CARE
Moody’s says the state’s new health care cost containment law could negatively impact hospitals, a key sector of the state’s economy, the State House News Service reports (via Lowell Sun).
Local towns where the Eastern equine encephalitis health threat is at a critical stage are shutting down town parks and fields after dusk and the state is planning another round of spraying in six communities where the EEE threat is highest.
Doctor/writer Atul Gawande appears on On Point to talk about his article in the New Yorker on chain medicine, which was the focus of yesterday’s lead Download item.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Attorney General Martha Coakley seeks $9.7 million from NStar for its storm response problems, the Associated Press reports (via WBUR).
US Rep. Ed Markey says climate change will do more damage to New England’s economy than any other factor and says Republicans are to blame.
The Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust is taking issue with the number of trees NStar says it needs to cut down to prevent downed lines from falling branches.
A centuries-old white oak tree in New Braintree is cut down by an arborist after it was weakened by someone who set it on fire, the Telegram & Gazette reports.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Chelsea police work with the social service agency Roca to help at-risk youth, WBUR reports.
A State Police fingerprinting device in Newbury helps small towns nearby check criminal records quickly of those arrested, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
Peter Gelzinis speculates that Whitey Bulger isn’t really angling for immunity, but a legacy and a shot at today’s Alcatraz, the Colorado Supermax prison. “At this point, dying in a medical ward at Fort Devens would be something of a humiliation,” Gelzinis writes. “After a successful life of plunder, the only worldly possession Whitey Bulger has left is his story.” Legal analysts are scoffing at the idea that Bulger has immunity from prosecution for the string of murders he is charged with, as his defense team plans to argue.