Map: See where great white sharks frequent in the Pacific Ocean

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — It’s commonly thought great white sharks are found more in the Atlantic Ocean than the Pacific, but while there may be more tagged sharks, there certainly aren’t “less” sharks. And scientists have learned a lot in recent years from studying their movements.

White sharks, commonly known as great white sharks, are found all over the world in Ocean waters around South Africa, Australia/New Zealand, the North Atlantic, and the Northeastern Pacific.

In the Pacific Ocean, white sharks can be found from Alaska to California and down to Mexico, and in the waters around Hawaii, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

They are most commonly encountered in coastal waters, often near land where seals and other marine mammals come ashore to rest. The Global Tagging of Pelagic Predators (GTOPP) program reports while their year-round presence off California has led some to believe they were primarily coastal, recent satellite tagging data from adults indicates that they are capable of extensive off-shore movements and can travel from California to Hawaii.

Along the U.S. East Coast, white sharks can be found from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, and in the U.S. Caribbean., according to NOAA.

Scientists have also identified nursery areas for juvenile white sharks off the coast of California and off of Long Island, New York.

Just recently in January 2024, a newborn great white shark was spotted by researchers off the coast of California near Santa Barbara for possibly the first time ever in the wild. The finding could mean the coast near Santa Barbara is a birthing location for white sharks, something that scientists have speculated about for years.

Want to know where West Coast great white sharks are? You can follow tagged sharks and see where they have been online here or download the shark net app to your iPhone.

The interactive map shows the movement of several species, not only sharks. Pacific Bluefin tuna can be seen heavily traveling the coast off of California, while striped marlin can be seen swimming mostly around the coast off of southern Baja Mexico.

But the white shark’s trackers show a very distinct pattern. They can be seen individually going not only up and down the entire West Coast, but also in lines straight out to the open ocean, stopping around the same spot halfway between California and Hawaii. Just one shark’s tracker on this map shows it going all the way to Hawaii.

White sharks grow slowly, can survive for a long time and are the largest of the predatory sharks. They aren’t fully mature until after 25 years and can live up to 70 years old, and can grow up to 20 feet long and over 4,000 pounds, NOAA says.

When talking about depth, sensor records show that white sharks dive deeper than 1,200 meters, while whale sharks have reached 1,896 meters, which is near the pressure limit of 2,000 meters for today’s sensors, according to GTOPP.

“Deep divers might be looking for food in deeper water or avoiding hunters themselves as potential prey,” said Samantha Andrzejaczek, co-lead author of the study and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. “Some sharks and rays are small, and some of the biggest sharks and rays will feed on them. We found that 13 species had individuals that dive to more than 1000 meters, which is extremely deep.” Some may require cooling-off periods while at depth. “When large sharks spend too long in the warm surface waters, they may have to dive to cool down, a form of behavioral thermoregulation.”

Oceana.org reports great white sharks in the Pacific Ocean spend about half the year off the California coast and around Guadalupe Island, which is 150 miles off of Baja California, Mexico.

Ocearch.org finally gives us an answer to a question that many have probably wondered, no there aren’t more sharks on the East Coast, there are more tagged sharks.

The OCEARCH Global Shark Tracker monitors sharks using GPS signals. You can watch online movements in real-time.

While the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico seem to be very active with several different species of sharks, you can also track other animals like sea turtles, American alligators, dolphins, pilot whales, seals, and swordfish.

Over on the West Coast, the OCEARCH tracker shows a few seals it was tracking off the coast of San Francisco, while dolphins can be found off the coast of San Diego County, and sea turtles in Hawaii.

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