Sharks along Cape Cod spotted stealing striped bass from fishermen: 'Sharks are throughout Massachusetts waters now'

Rick Sobey, Boston Herald on Jun 15, 2026

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If you’re fishing along Cape Cod these days, be on the lookout for a hungry apex predator.

Several white sharks have been chomping on striped bass that fishermen caught in Cape Cod Bay, according to shark researcher John Chisholm.

The striped bass shark depredations have also been occurring off Chatham’s Monomoy Island — a hotspot for seals, which attract great white sharks.

Sharks steal striped bass from fishermen every year around the Cape. A new wrinkle in recent weeks has been sharks taking multiple black sea bass from fishermen in Nantucket Sound, in the stretch from Hyannis to Harwich.

“White sharks are seen in that area every year, but this is the first year with more than one shark-black sea bass interaction, so it’s on my radar,” said Chisholm, an adjunct scientist in the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life.

“It means that sharks are in that area, and people need to be aware,” added Chisholm, who confirms shark sightings for the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.

Other than the shark sightings involving stealing bass, seals have been found dead from shark bites in recent weeks. The latest dead seal with a shark bite was found on Chatham’s Hardings Beach along Nantucket Sound over the weekend.

Meanwhile on the other end of the Cape, a 12- to 15-foot white shark was spotted breaching out of the water off the Provincetown tip.

“Sharks are throughout Massachusetts waters now,” said Chisholm, who noted other sightings off the South Shore and North Shore.

“This is when sharks are migrating north, and they’re spread out,” he added. “A lot of people still don’t realize that sharks are all throughout the local waters. A lot of people just assume they’re off the Cape, but they’re not just there. They can be found anywhere.”

As Chisholm collects shark sighting reports, he also hears from many beachgoers and boaters who think they see a great white but it’s actually another fish.

For instance, he’s starting to receive an increase in people reporting ocean sunfish (Mola mola) as white sharks.

“Although they look nothing alike, it’s the sunfish’s large dorsal that causes all the confusion,” Chisholm posted. “Unlike sharks, they use their fin like a paddle, moving it back & forth to swim. Sunfish can also breach which results in a large splash that leads people to believe they’re a shark.”

If a beachgoer sees a fin that they can’t identify, they should “err on the side of caution” and get out of the water while telling lifeguards, Chisholm said.

He also urges people to report sightings to the Sharktivity app. Sharktivity provides information and push notifications on white shark sightings, detections, and movements to raise awareness and help people and sharks co-exist.

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