A 1,000-pound tagged great white shark known as “Iroundbound” has reached New Jersey on its migration route north.
CNN reports the male great white shark, or simply white shark, is the first of the OCEARCH-tagged white shark to visit the New Jersey coast this year. The shark “pinged” just inshore of the Hudson Canyon, a submarine canyon and fishing ground about ninety miles east off the New Jersey shoreline on April 28.
The shark pings when the spot tag on its dorsal fin is above water for about 90 seconds, causing the tag to be picked up by satellite.
According to OCEARCH’s Global Shark Tracker app, which marks the shark’s position in real-time, Ironbound was measured over twelve feet and weighed nearly 1,000 pounds when it was tagged in October 2019 near the coast of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The shark wintered off the southeastern coast of the U.S. and made it at least as far south as Savannah, Georgia.
According to App.com, the great white shark, which is most likely larger now, began swimming north in late March alongside several other OCEARCH-tagged sharks. On April 25, Ironbound was off the coast of North Carolina before continuing to New Jersey.
With over 13,000 miles under its belt, the shark has visited Canada and the Southeast United States. As it has done every year since it was tracked with a spot tag, Ironbound is likely headed back to Nova Scotia.
Non-profit OCEARCH conducts research. To better understand the life cycle of one of the ocean’s most feared predators, it has been tagging white sharks for over a decade in the Atlantic Ocean.
Sharks’ blood and tissue are collected before being released back into the wild as part of OCEARCH’s pre-release process.
New Jersey’s coast plain has already been bypassed by OCEARCH-tagged sharks that have already migrated north. On the way north, several more appear.
Spring migrations of whales, dolphins, and tuna are underway, joining the sharks.