Longtime shark photographer urges caution, not hysteria, after fatal attack
Despite hundreds of dives with the predator, Brian Skerry is cautious as growing seal populations lure sharks to New England beaches.
It’s that time of year. SharkFest. Retro showings of Jaws at suddenly more popular drive-in theaters. On Monday, however, came a somber midsummer note: the first fatal shark attack off Maine ever reported.
Photographer Brian Skerry, who has spent more than 10,000 hours diving, has been documenting sharks for years, sometimes in a cage as the fearsome creatures approached. He knows one environmental success—the rebound in shark populations off Cape Cod and Maine—is partly because of the bounce-back of its favorite meal, seal.
Long before the attack, Brian had been documenting the relationship between shark and seal. In the image above, off Cape Cod, Brian placed a camera in a seal decoy he designed and built
