SEA OF LOVE GREAT WHITE SIGHT JUVENILE WHITE SHARK SPOTTED OFF DUCK KEY

ALEX RICKERT alex@keysweekly.com

Bulls, hammerheads and reef sharks are common culprits known to fishermen trying to reel their catches past the “tax men” in the Florida Keys.

A great white? Not so much.

Mikki McComb-Kobza, executive director of the Ocean First Institute with a shark lab in Key Largo, was surprised to receive a call from College of the Florida Keys student Travis Ellington. Sending over a bevy of photos and videos, Ellington reported a juvenile white shark hanging out off the stern of family friend Tom Eacobacci’s boat while fishing off Duck Key on Jan. 21.

“He was just losing his mind,” said McComb-Kobza. “They found our institute and were like, ‘Hey, can you guys confirm what we’re seeing?’”

“We were just yellowtailing, normal reef fishing, and it just came up next to the boat,” Ellington told the Weekly. “It stayed around for a while, probably five or 10 minutes, but it actually didn’t try to snag any of our fish. It kept looking at the chum bag, but it never tried to bite it or anything.”

McComb-Kobza has more than 20 years of experience researching endangered species, including worldwide studies of white sharks with baited remote underwater cameras from the northeast Atlantic down to Florida. From her own experience, and after conferring with four colleagues, Ellington’s pictures were a dead giveaway.

The researchers confirmed the sixor seven-foot shark as a juvenile white, likely less than a year old by their estimation, as newborn white sharks are already five feet long.

White sharks are known as a highly migratory species, frequently traveling from Canada all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and back throughout the year.

“They are cruising by the Keys, there’s no doubt; it’s just that we don’t know exactly when and why,” said McComb-Kobza. “But to find a juvenile is interesting. What we do know is that white sharks have a temperature preference, and 55 degrees is kind of their sweet spot. … The Keys have had some cold snaps, so that water is kind of conducive to those guys being there.”

The juvenile sighting marks the second publicized visit of a “snowbird” shark in 2023 as “Sable,” another juvenile white shark tagged by research group OCEARCH, “pinged” in the wa- ters off Layton on Jan. 3. Named after Sable Island National Park Reserve, she was originally tagged in Nova Scotia but last “pinged” on Jan. 27 in the gulf waters off the Florida panhandle – a perfect example of the migration patterns McComb-Kobza described to the Weekly.

The long journeys aren’t unique to sharks in the western Atlantic, either, as McComb-Kobza described her trip in November to tag white sharks being chased away by killer whales in South Africa.

“It’s amazing to see where they’re going,” she said. “We think that those sharks in South Africa might be going all the way over to Australia.”

For all the trepidation a white shark sighting might trigger in most, Ellington and McComb-Kobza agreed: this was awesome.

“I’ve been in the ocean my whole life,” Ellington said. “It’s kind of crazy that in all the hours I’ve been on the water, I’ve only seen one.”

“It’s great news to be able to say that we’re seeing juvenile white sharks off the Florida Keys,” McCombKobza added. “It’s a good thing. And it’s indicating to us that management strategies that have been employed in the U.S. are working. In the ’80s, sharks really went down in numbers, and we’re starting to see those numbers rebounding.”

To view a live, interactive shark tracker with current and historical data for tagged animals like Sable, visit ocearch.com/tracker.

REHABILITATED TURTLE PAIR RETURNS TO THE OCEAN ON VALENTINE’S DAY

Valentine’s Day in Key West was celebrated with the release of a rehabilitated sea turtle duo back to the Atlantic Ocean by experts from the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital.

Dubbed “Port” and “Starboard,” the two juvenile green sea turtles were rescued together some three months ago in Lower Keys waters and treated at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon. Now weighing 20 pounds and 50 pounds, respectively, they were recently deemed to be in good health and ready for release together.

“We have ‘Port’ and ‘Starboard,’ two juvenile green sea turtles that were rescued together in November, and how awesome is this — we were able to put them back in their ocean home today on Valentine’s Day,” said Turtle Hospital manager Bette Zirkelbach.

After their rescue, both turtles were diagnosed with fibropapillomatosis — a debilitating tumor-causing disease that affects sea turtle species around the world. Treatment included tumor removal surgeries, broad-spectrum antibiotics, fluids, vitamins and a healthy diet of greens and mixed seafood.

Several hundred people watched from Key West’s Higgs Beach as “Port” and “Starboard” were carried from the Turtle Hospital’s ambulance to the water’s edge. The crowd applauded as the pair swam away together to spend Valentine’s Day in their saltwater home.

Since it opened over 35 years ago, the Turtle Hospital has treated and rehabilitated more than 2,000 injured sea turtles.

— Contributed