George Breen, a pilot for Cape Cod Shark Hunters, told the Hyannis-based daily newspaper that he photographed the shark as it was stalking a group of seals in shallow water. May 13, 2013- 
 
 
 
 
 
 This is the data from a shark we tagged last year (August 24, 2012).  George Breen / CapeCodSharkHunters.com This photo shows what Cape Cod Shark Hunters says is a 16-foot great white shark in the foreground swimming near a group of seals. Breen said the two great whites he spotted did not appear to be the same two tagged last year and detected via transmitter signals picked off Chatham last week. The tagged sharks were detected via transmitter signals picked up off the Chatham coast. The great white sharks that patrol the town's beaches are becoming another big draw, and this past weekend one of the large fish was spotted about 100 yards from shore. "When there are sightings, it gets kind of hectic around here. July 10, 2012 July 10, 2012 
 
 
 
 July 9, 2012- 
 
 Today the Cape Cod Shark Hunters tagged the first Great White of the season. He said his first encounter with a great white came in July 2001, when he was in a boat just a couple of miles east of South Beach. A pilot looking for sharks as part of a state shark-tagging operation photographed a 12- to 15-foot great white prowling near the surf zone on the north side of Chatham inlet, the Cape Cod Times reports. George Breen, a pilot for the Sandwich, Mass.-based conservation group Cape Cod Shark Hunters, said he identified two great white sharks during a routine survey flight on June 28. The shark was spotted last week north of the Chatham, Mass., harbor inlet in close proximity to popular swimming beaches. “Chatham issues advisory after numerous shark sightings, banning swimming within 300 feet of seals along eastern coast,” according to a statement posted by the Cape Cod Chronicle on its Twitter account on Sunday. This does NOT mean that their are no sharks in the area and people should still abide by the closed beach rules and use caution at beaches that remain open. But the truth is, you can't see them from the beach, you have to go out into the water." Chatham has six beaches, five located on the Nantucket Sound and one on the ocean side of the Atlantic. Last summer, town officials were forced to close North Beach, North Beach Island and South Beach in August following numerous sightings and reports of seals being attacked, the Times reported. “He was big and close to shore,” Breen told msnbc.com. One shark, he said, was seen about a half mile offshore, while the other was just 50 yards from land. Saturday's sighting, near the mouth of Chatham Harbor, comes on the heels of a sighting Thursday by a shark-spotting plane. Once the sharks are tagged with hydro-acoustic tags, these beacons will record every time a shark comes into proximity with one. "We have so many seals that it only makes sense that we will have more sightings as the years go by." While it remains unclear if that shark was the same one spotted Saturday near the entrance to Chatham Harbor, great whites are known to frequent local waters due to a burgeoning seal colony on nearby Monomoy Island.
– Sightings of at least two great white sharks—one 16 feet long—stalking the waters off Cape Cod have triggered a swimming ban at the popular summer tourist spot during one of busiest times of the year. One shark was spotted a half mile from shore; the other was just 50 feet from land. "He was big, and he was close," an aerial spotter told MSNBC. Now Chatham officials have banned all swimming within 300 feet of seals, and are warning against swimming at dawn and dusk—though beaches currently remain open to sunbathers. Shark sightings have spiked in recent years as the big fish hunt seals off the Chatham coast. Last year, several Chatham beaches were shut due to shark sightings and seal attacks, notes the Springfield Republican.