got geoint?

We often look for stories that go outside of the box, yet tie into the what we do as GEOINT professionals. When the editorial staff came across the story about researchers tagging and tracking great white shark migration patterns, we had to cover it! As we always say in the GEOINT world, everyone has to be someplace on our planet, to put it simply. Well, the same holds true for great white sharks. And, the scary part is that these sharks are coming way closer to shore then you think – try as close as the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, just east of the Golden Gate Bridge.

That is correct. According to a recent Washington Post article, Pacific white sharks spend months near the northern and central California coast between August and February foraging among elephant seals, sea lions and other prey, according to a new study published online Tuesday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. The team of 10 California-based researchers determined that these sharks probably pass close to populated beaches and have been spotted as far inland as the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, east of the Golden Gate Bridge.

By tracking their movements, scientists determined that these fearsome predators make such precise, regular migrations each year between the California coast and the Hawaiian islands that they have become genetically distinct from their counterparts on the other side of the Pacific. One thing that is comforting to those of us who are still traumatized from watching “Jaws,” the truth is that many humans may have crossed paths with these sharks and nothing every really happens.

So, perhaps these sharks are more focused on hunting seals off the coast of northern California? Either way, we are canceling our annual surfing trip to Mavericks as we speak.