All language subtitles for subtitle_1771263310070

Lifeguard: Okay, um... one thing
that we need to keep in mind,

let's say we get a
ping on the shark buoy.

If you use the phone
to let somebody know,

you still need to, like,
let the other beaches know.

The other thing is, is that

if you close your beach because
you visually see a shark,

you need to let your
parking lot person know.

If it's not a
confirmed sighting,

you're closing the beach,

you know, it's...
it's-it, it's on you.

Any questions?

Okay.

Person: Have a great day.

Definitely now it's a lot more
stressful and less carefree.

We still have all the hazards
that we dealt with before,

like rip currents and
all of those things.

And then on top of
that, we have this

additional hazard
called white sharks.

- How are you?
- Person: It's very hot.

Suzy Blake: It's good
to see you. I know.

I'm glad you're
back this summer.

Person: Me too.

Police Officer: Thanks
for coming out to

Cape Cod National Seashore.

It's a wild marine environment,

with sharks returning
as the top predators.

Sharks are here. They're
a dangerous animal.

Recreation has been
established in their absence.

That is what is so
unique about Cape Cod

relative to other areas

where sharks are present
around the world.

Blake: So this is our boat.
This was new last year.

We got a lot of new
tools and equipment

after the fatality.

If we see people swimming
far out, it makes us nervous,

so we will tell them to come in.

That's another new thing
that has come about

because of the sharks.

How big do you think they are?

Blake: Well, we get a
lot of different ones,

and they'll be anywhere
from like eight feet

all the way up to
like 14, 15 feet.

It's such an incredible thing
that's, um, happening here.

But, you know, I realize that

not everybody... not
everybody sees it that way.

When you're at a place
like Cape Cod where,

let's face it, multiple species love
this area for different reasons,

um, and there's overlap here
of white sharks and humans.

And it's hard because a lot of people
who have lived here for decades,

they didn't have
to think about this

until the past 10 years or so.

And so it's been a big...
A big shift for them.

- GoPros?
- GoPros.

- All the accoutrements.
- Check. Yes.

- Hi, folks.
- Beachgoer: How are ya?

Good. Good. Have a
good time out there?

Beachgoer: Yeah, so
let them people know,

as they're coming in there
was a shark sighting,

so they can't get in the water
for at least another 45 minutes.

Oh, yeah. You... I told...
I forgot to tell them, yeah.

Hi. Good. How are you?

- I'm good.
- Good.

How you been? Staying
out of trouble?

Oh, come on. That's no fun.

Yeah.

Bye-bye.

Guide : And
the spring line is clear.

No turning back now.

You're on for the whale watch.

Guide: Now, what
are we gonna see?

Uh, fin whale, humpback
whale, minke whale.

Uh, we do occasionally see
great white sharks out here.

But you won't see a shark
unless it's feeding.

And if it is, it's
very colorful.

Paul Tasha: Remember that year when
you were seeing an average of like...

four or five sharks every day?

Tom Smith: Oh, yeah. I didn't even
wanna tell you how many I saw that day.

One came up next to the
boat in shallow water.

We were hauling back.

It literally took
my breath away.

It was... honest to God,
I'm not exaggerating.

It was like "Jaws."

Tasha: I'll tell you
why I believe you.

The only one I got a really
good look at underwater

was that kind of big.

And I'm looking at it,
and, you know, it just had

that slow, massive look to it,

like, I mean, do fucking great
whites even get that big?

It, it had to be like, this
big a... I'm not shitting you.

It was like this
fucking big around.

The only two I've seen was when
it was really good visibility,

which leads me to wonder how many I
didn't see when it was shitty and murky.

Alec Wilkinson: There
was a time some years ago

that I was writing
about scientists

who were working with
the sharks in Cape Cod.

They arrived with all
the fanfare of saying,

oh, they'll be tagging
all these sharks,

catching all these sharks.

Well, they caught two
the entire expedition.

And I went out there, you
know, on my first day,

went thinking I'd see a
shark, and that'd be it,

and I'd go home
and write my piece.

Well, I had to keep
going back for 11 days.

The sharks weren't
abundant then.

They would be quite some
distance from shore.

Every once in a while,

they'd be found near
shore, maybe near Chatham,

but they were, were
not near the beaches.

Beachgoer: Okay. We're in
Truro at Ballston Beach,

where someone's been...
I don't know what.

Do we know what
happened here, anyone?

Bitten by something or...?

Reporter: Chris Myers was
in the water with his son

when a great white sunk
his teeth into his leg.

He managed to get free and
was taken to the hospital

with eight deep gouges
and some torn tendons.

Wilkinson: It seemed
like more and more sharks

were arriving each
year, and suddenly,

you're really getting
them near the beaches.

In August of 2018,

we were on the beach one
afternoon about to go in the water

when we heard what
sounded like shouting,

maybe a hundred
yards down the beach.

Dispatcher : Call at
Longnook Beach for a subject

possibly bitten by a
shark in the thigh.

Jeff Souza: We got a call
for a possible shark bite

at Longnook Beach.

I said, "Oh, there's no
way this is a shark bite,

because it's very
rare around here."

But once I saw it,

I knew that it was not
just something small.

This was like something
completely different.

He was bleeding considerably.
He had been bitten on the leg.

Reporter: Sixty-two-year-old
William Lytton

attacked in waist-deep
water off Truro Beach.

Reporter 2: He
escaped by punching

the shark in the gills,

something he had seen
on a nature show.

Wilkinson: But not until

the poor boy was
killed in Wellfleet,

did it really seem like,
"Okay, now they're here."

Dana Franchitto: It was
such a joyous summer day.

Late summer day.

Everybody's having fun,

whether you're surfing,
boogie boarding,

swimming, beachcombing.

Drew Taylor: As good as a day
you could ask for on the Cape.

And, like, families were on the beach
and there were surf breaks all over.

And then Arthur was
down here with his,

you know, good
friend, uh, Isaac.

Reporter: Twenty-six-year-old
Arthur Medici,

on his boogie board with
his friend, Isaac Rocha...

Mitzi Riley: About
9:30, I was by myself.

I walked way down the
beach, same as always.

And there was two people in the water
already with their boogie boards,

putting on an incredible show,

and I was their little personal
cheerleader up on the hill.

I heard a tone.

And as I stood, I saw the blood.

Isaac was screaming at
the top of his lungs

to help him, help him, help him.

Now, I'm looking down
that hill and I says,

"Just what the
fuck are you going to do?"

I went in.

A wave came up
over Arthur's face

and I got underneath and
pulled him up on top of me,

because we couldn't
move him any further.

I did look down at one point,

and saw that his legs
were kind of laced open,

but no blood.

There was no blood around us.

All the blood was... long gone.

I, uh... told both boys
how much I loved them

and I kissed them both
and hollered for God,

and cried and waited
for help to come.

I had no clue what the
hell had just happened.

Beachgoer : I'm
at, uh, Newcomb Hollow Beach

in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.

I've just seen a surfer
get bit by a shark.

It's about 300 yards
down the beach.

- I saw the whole thing happen.
- Dispatcher: Okay. Okay, sir...

Beachgoer: But It was
a hell of a hit, man.

I saw the whole thing happen.

It looks like
they're carrying him

off the beach right now.

Reporter:
At this time,

I have a report of an
unknown shark bite.

Riley: The lifeguards were
trying to work on him.

We have an
unconscious male. Severe leg injuries.

Riley: There was no
helping this poor boy.

That morning I got the call.

We're inbound from a closed
area way to the east,

70 miles to the east of P-Town.

And as soon as I got
service, my daughter called.

She's like, "I think my
friend got killed by a shark."

Franchitto: After
he was taken away,

it was such a stunned silence.

We just didn't know.

We're kind of looking at
each other like, "Wow.

Did we just get
punched in the face?"

That's what it kind of
felt like, you know?

That is just... It's
such a haunting story.

I feel so for his family and...

Violence can intersect
any moment practically,

it seems like,

but one wouldn't have thought

of a sunny afternoon off
the coast of New England

that a shadow was waiting.

Reporter: It's the first fatal shark attack
Cape Cod has seen in more than 80 years.

Reporter 2: Officials ordered Newcomb
Hollow Beach closed until further notice.

After a summer full of
shark sightings on Cape Cod

and one previous
nonfatal attack,

it's getting harder and
harder to downplay the danger.

That was a turning point.

Town Official::
Okay. So thank you.

It's now 6 p.m.,
September 27th, 2018,

and this is a meeting on sharks.

I wanna first start off saying
that our town is very distraught

and sad about the
loss of Arthur Medici.

It has affected
all of us deeply.

Tonight, we are here to
discuss what happened.

We have representatives,

experts that will
answer questions

and give a brief description
of what may be done

to improve safety
on Cape Cod beaches.

Um, so we are getting
a pretty good idea

of when sharks are here,

where they are
when they're here.

We haven't seen
any major changes

in their predatory behavior.

We have had a lot of reports

of sightings that
people have sent in

that have gotten a
lot of attention.

I wanna remind our
elected officials

that the death of
26-year-old Arthur Medici

was not his fault, it was ours.

Government officials are
sitting behind these tables

telling us, we the people,

we can't do anything
in our own environment.

If you were standing
there that day,

you'd be fighting for it.

This was a beautiful young man

who lost his life because we've
been sitting doing nothing.

On the day that it happened,
I think you were working.

- Right.
- And it was just me and Mom down the Cape.

And I went to go grab my board,

and she's like, "You're
absolutely not going out today."

I was like, "Why not? I just,
like, worked a really hard shift.

"Like, I really wanna
just go out surfing.

The waves are beautiful."

- And the waves are good, right?
- Like, it's a no suit day.

It was a no suit day.

And I was like, "I'm gonna
go," and she, like, stalled me

for like 30 minutes and so I
was late going to the beach.

Because I told her, "Absolutely
under no circumstances

"will you let the
girls go out and surf

- without me being there."
- Yeah.

That's where your mother
put her foot down.

- Yeah.
- And I'm glad she did because, you know...

She's the reason I wasn't
in the water at the time.

John Kartsounis: Exactly.

Kartsounis:
Good evening, uh, everyone.

My name is John Kartsounis,
Wellfleet resident.

I'm the father of
three children,

two of which, uh, have been
lifeguards in the past,

one is senior lifeguard.

My daughter was present during

Arthur Medici's,
uh, fatal attack.

It was horrific.

She tried to help
as best she could.

I've been surfing and swimming

in the outer beaches
for 35 years.

Um, I won't allow my
kids to go in anymore.

We have a problem here,
ladies and gentlemen,

and the problem is manmade.

So... excuse me. So thank
you. I appreciate it.

I mean, there's lots of people here
who feel that way about sharks...

Kartsounis: I
think public safety

is an important issue.

- Yes.
- That's the role of government.

Number-one role of
government is public safety.

Not shark safety. Not
shark conservation.

And I understand where some of the
advocates on that side are coming from,

but not to be at the
expense of humans.

And that's the issue here,
and we have to address it.

And I hope you all
take it very seriously.

Thank you.

What you doing?

Meg Winton: Getting rubber
bands to put around my wrist.

- This is how I work.
- Oh. You want more?

Winton: I'm gonna get more.
Just have them ready to go.

Winton: With the
emergence of Cape Cod

as a new seasonal aggregation
site for white sharks,

there's a lot of science
going on off the coast here.

You hand me that... Meg, Megan?

Thanks.

Winton: All the research
we're doing here

is really to learn more
about these animals,

so that we can prevent the risk

of somebody having a bad
interaction with a white shark.

You got any more, Wayne?
This one's staying deep.

Wayne : Yep, uh...

There's one just on the
other side of that guy.

It's on his port bow,
it's a small one.

Yeah. That sounds good.

Well,
we like action.

Winton: The number one question
I think we get asked is,

"How many of them
are out there?"

And we haven't had an answer.

There's never been
an actual number.

So part of our mission is to catalog
the white sharks of Cape Cod.

Greg Skomal: We're gonna
put out some acoustic tags,

which will be those
long-term tags

that will be picked up
by a, a receiver array.

Wayne : All
right. Slow down. Slow down.

I'm in the glare here.

I should be right
there pretty close now.

Just, just stop there, John.
Just let them come to you.

Skomal: Yeah, he's down.

Skomal: Are we ready to go?

- Captain: Yes, sir.
- Skomal: Okay.

As long as he doesn't
spook, we're...

I like the way it's acting.

A little zigzag action.
He's down a little bit.

- Winton: Bobbing and weaving.
- Skomal: I need him to slow down

'cause I don't wanna knock
the tag off the pole.

Captain: The degree of
difficulty is high on this one.

Skomal: Yeah. Look at this.
It's a... it's a wormy one.

Wayne : Down
back if you need help.

Skomal: Down a little.
Ah, don't turn.

Don't turn.

- Oh! Damn.
- Winton: Piece of work.

Skomal: Slow down.

Captain: Out of gear.

Winton: Nine feet of water.

Captain: Down pretty good.

Captain: Hold on, Greg.

Skomal: It's just enough.

We don't need that
to pop off, you know?

- Winton: You got him.
- Captain: Good job! Nice job.

Skomal: Yeah!

Winton: All right, keep
an eye! Keep an eye.

Oh, that's great.

Nice work. Victory, Captain.

There's an acoustic
transmitter on that,

and that's gonna stay on.

That's why we use the dart.
The dart's gonna hold that in.

That'll ping for 10 years.

- Winton: There she goes.
- Skomal: All right, you can...

Winton: Every time a
tagged shark swims by

one of our real-time receivers,

people will immediately see
that information on their phone.

It's now integrated with
our app, Sharktivity.

There's also information
on which shark it was.

There's a photo of the shark.

It's really changed the way
people think about sharks

off of our coastline,

and how frequently they
occur near shore waters.

Blake: Let's see if
we're getting them.

Oh, so Joanie came by at 2:30
last night and left at 3:00.

- Who is that? Jodi?
- Blake: Joanie.

- Lifeguard: Joanie?
- Blake: Yeah.

I-I don't know how
big Joanie is, but...

All right. Hopefully,
this will work today.

Lifeguard: We fly that all
the time just so people know

that there are
sharks in the water.

It's basically like you should
go in at your own discretion.

- Blake: I...
- Lifeguard: However,

if we detect one on
our buoy or see one,

then we get everyone out of the
water and change it to a black flag.

- Beachgoer: Oh. To black?
- Lifeguard: Yep.

- Beachgoer: Okay. Just wondered.
- Lifeguard: Yep.

Blake: Have a great day.

I just saw a seal
on the sandbar.

When we see a seal,
it makes us nervous.

Child: That is a shark!

Blake: Sharks are so stealth.

They just sneak
up on their prey.

The seals are really agile so
they can swim away really fast,

but obviously humans
are not as agile.

You can see that fish
a mile away, huh?

Captain: Sucker's in
shallow water, man.

- Sure is, huh?
- Like, uh, motivated.

Captain: Eight feet here,

and it's seven feet
and it's going in.

Skomal: It's got a pile
of seals right there.

This sucker's hunting.

Wilkinson: Greg Skomal,

who is the one person
on the east coast

who really knows what
the circumstances are,

had always told me that sharks,
so far as he could tell,

would not enter
into the surf zone

because they had an instinctive
fear of being breached.

Unhappily for me, he amended
that last year to say, "Well...

"not sure anymore.

"We now have seen occasions where they
go right into the surf after a seal.

If they're chasing something, they'll
certainly go into the surf," he said.

-Lisa Sette: You see that?
-Liz Bradfield: Oh, yeah. That's a seal coming.

- Sette: Is it?
- Bradfield: Mm-hmm.

That one has a scar on its back.

It was... I just saw
a divot, you know?

D, can you photograph this?

- Bradfield: I will, yeah.
- Yep.

Bradfield: Oh,
yeah. Look at that.

I can't see a wound. I see...

Bradfield: I mean, it's not
like bloody or anything.

Sette: It's not... It's
like a healed divot.

Bradfield: No, that's
not, that's too old, Lis.

- Do you see it?
- Sette: I see it.

There's a white...

It looks white
below the surface.

I don't live very far
from here, and, um,

two years ago, I rode
out here in August

and it was, uh, later
in the afternoon,

and I got off my bike
and I just looked out,

and there was a white shark.

And I was like, "Oh, wow."

I spent about an
hour watching it.

And then seals started
passing through

really close to shore, just
traveling north or south.

And rafts of birds came
in, boats were going by,

and I was just like,

we could do, like, a, a
little behavioral study here,

and look at seal behavior
and white shark behavior.

So, when we stand out here,
what we're looking at is

basically how seals and
white sharks transit,

or spend time right
off the bluff here.

Oh, wait. We got a seal.
Sorry. I have to get a...

Okay, Marjorie, you ready?

Ninety-four bearing.

I'm gonna get you distance.

142 heading north.

Bradfield: Circling.

Oh, interaction.

Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

There was a interaction between
the first and third animal.

Uh, for some reason, the third
animal got a little too close

and the first animal...

- Flipped around.
- Flipped around

and gave a body check.

That was interesting.

Bradfield: That
was interesting.

Sette: Seals can tell us a lot
about th-the ocean environment.

They're a species that
reflects back to us,

um, ecosystem health.

Bradfield: That makes them
a great messenger for us,

and to be witnessing the
recovery of a species.

You know, there's
this whole idea

of shifting baselines, right?

That what you grew up with
is what's "normal."

And oftentimes the story
of shifting baselines,

is of decrease.

But here, we're having a shifting
of baselines upward with the seals,

and, and that's pretty,
pretty amazing, too.

People saying, "You know, I didn't used to
see all these seals," and they're right.

They didn't.

Crocker Snow: I've spent a lot
of time all over the world.

All kinds of places that I like.

But when I set foot on Muskeget,

the moment my foot
hits the sand,

I'm in the Muskeget
thing instantly.

Nothing else.

My first exposure was,

I was nine years old
right after Dad got it.

And he came down on a Piper Cub,

the yellow planes
with single engine,

and I had my best
friend in the back.

And he landed out on that beach.

He dropped us off,
got back on the plane,

said, "I'll be
back" and took off.

And I distinctly remember
sitting there with my friend

and watching the
yellow plane disappear.

- I bet.
- And everywhere we walked,

there were seagulls
attacking us,

'cause we were going through
a nest without knowing it.

Kimberly Murray: Uh-huh.

Snow: It was like Alfred
Hitchcock's "Birds."

We found an old
2x4 or something,

and we were sort of...

see if the plane...

My memory and what I wrote
was just about two hours.

And eventually we saw this
little yellow plane coming in.

Snow: We think of ourselves
as the stewards of the island,

you know, to keep
it the way it is,

except for the gray seals.

Um...

You-You know what I mean.
You know exactly what I mean.

I don't want them to overtake

all the other species
on the island.

You didn't see any pups
born here in 1960, did you?

Snow: The first one was
found, I think, in '64,

and then there were 20 or 40.

And they had...
They were by name.

The scientist said,
"There's Mariel."

I-I've told you that.

- There's so few of them, they could name them.
- Yes.

They named them.
And it was cute.

Wilkinson: You know,
15, 20 years ago,

if you saw a seal, it
was sort of an event.

When I was a little kid and we
spent our summers in Cape Cod,

we might see two a summer.

And you kind of go,
"Wow. It's really cool.

I was down at Ballston
today and there was a seal!"

Sette: People are very
surprised, even locals,

when they see seals here

because they were
gone for so long

because of the bounties.

Sette: It was perceived that
the seals were responsible

for eating down the
commercially important fishes.

So the seals were bountied.

People were paid for noses
or pelts or flippers.

Tim Reinemo: My grandfather
used to hunt for them, sure.

Muskeget was a great
hunting ground.

Used to be able to go
out there and get 'em

and bring back the noses.

You could also cut the ear off.

Sette: Over 20,000 seals are
believed to have been bountied

in, um, Massachusetts waters.

And then, in 1972, the
Marine Mammal Protection Act

was put in place
to protect seals.

By the time they hit about
200, I asked her, Valerie...

- Rue.
- Yeah.

- Valerie Rue.
- And she said they'll never get to more than a thousand.

There, there won't be enough
feed, or there'll be disease.

And she was
obviously dead wrong.

Snow: We have all the
problems with the sharks.

It's obvious.

I mean, nobody has to
think about that too much.

They're attracted by the seals
and there are a lot of seals.

It's clear that the population

has reached beyond what it
needs to be to be stable.

But with the Marine
Mammal Protection Act,

you can't delist gray seals
or any other marine mammals,

if I'm not... if I'm correct.

That should be changed.

So if they get beyond the point

that they have to be
to be self-sufficient,

it should be doable
to make changes.

I mean, they haven't
gotten to a point

where they're beyond
the point of becoming...

Of "self-sufficient," is I
think what you just said.

- I did.
- It's not beyond that point from a ecological point of view.

Well, what is the right point?

Well, the goal of the
Marine Mammal Protection Act

is to allow them to
recover to a certain range.

What is that figure?
It's not in the act.

- No, it's not.
- You can't, you can't reach it,

because it could go forever.

Our population is
going like this,

and we're not
controlling ourselves,

and you're
controlling the seals.

I'm just
giving her a hard time.

Murray: The seals are
recovering, they're doing well.

Marine Mammal Protection
Act has been a success.

But because we're
so populated now,

the number has come in conflict

with a lot of our
uses of the ocean,

and that's what we're
trying to balance.

Snow: Right. But, number one,
if you let nature be nature,

they wouldn't be protected.

Point two, why would the
seals have it over people?

To me, that's a big argument.

Murray: It strikes at how you feel
about your relationship with wildlife

- and if you feel like...
- Yeah. I agree.

You can dominate
it and control it,

or if you can co-exist with
it as a, as a part of it.

Person: The Endangered
Species Act is a huge success.

- It's inarguably, inarguably a huge success.
- Kartsounis: Yes.

Person: We just wanna
pick up a piece of that

- that's a critical omission in this legislation.
- Ron Beaty: Right.

It's, it's simple. It's
a delisting provision.

When a species has
demonstrably recovered,

take 'em off the
protection list.

- Right.
- That's it.

That's what we're going for.

- Right.
- Kartsounis: According to Crocker Snow,

on his island, Muskeget,
there's... what did he say,

about 12 to 15,000?

And then on Monomoy,
there's 20 to 25,000.

So you put those
numbers together.

When we talk to people,
we need to actually stress

that the marine balance
equation also means

that humans are part
of the equation.

The other side, our opposition,
basically is telling the media

that humans are the problem,

that we shouldn't even
be part of the ecosystem.

Which is ridiculous,
it's just stupid.

Group Member: Well, people said to
me, "Oh, you wanna kill the seals,"

and I'm like, "No. No. I
don't wanna kill the seals.

"I want a balanced ecosystem,

in which people are considered
to be part of the ecosystem."

-That's it. It's not that complicated.
-Yeah. And, and...

I wanna reiterate...

- Never ever.
- Group Member: Yeah.

Kartsounis: Now,
Ron, are you aware

that the Atlantic
White Shark Conservancy

has a booth every Saturday

at Newcomb Hollow
Beach in Wellfleet?

I knew they did at some
beaches. I didn't know...

Kartsounis: Well, this is an
actual propaganda booth...

- Beaty: Yeah.
- Kartsounis: where it's in a parking lot.

They've got three
or four interns.

And as beachgoers go by,

they're right there pushing
their leaflets and propaganda.

AWSC Intern: How are you?

Intern: We're with the
Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

We got some shark smart tips
here, so if you go in the water,

this is all of our
detection data.

So that's where we know
they have been detected.

How many off of Cape Cod?

Uh, there... At any given time,
we don't really know, you know?

They, they like it... we know
they like it here in the summer

and up until about October,

but the exact number that's here
is kind of hard to tell, yeah.

But there is not a lot that are on this beach,
right, because of the sandbars and stuff?

So you can see we're
right about here.

This is like a highway
for shark activity.

So there's... at any given
time, a potential for...

- Yeah, they're going. Yeah.
- Oh, yeah, for sure.

Beachgoer: So cool.

- I saw a shark yesterday.
- Beachgoer: Yeah.

-Intern: Oh, really? That's super cool.
-Yeah.

- With a fin up in the water.
- Intern: Oh, yeah.

- Beachgoer: Couldn't believe it.
- I don't know what kind it was.

Intern: Yeah. Probably
a great white.

- They're usually inshore. Yeah.
- Beachgoer: Yeah, that's...

- Whoa!
- Intern: We'll be here until 12:00,

so when you guys are
back from your surf...

- Are, are those teeth?
- Intern: Yeah, those are real shark teeth.

This is a 3D print of how big
a white shark tooth can get.

I think it's bait fish 'cause
there's more behind it.

- Oh, yeah.
- Like there are a couple more of those blobs,

but I see what
you're looking at.

Lifeguard: Really has a
shape though, you know?

- Oh.
- Blake: Bait fish.

Lifeguard: Did you see that?

Lifeguard 2: No. What?
What are we looking at?

Blake: What did you see?

Lifeguard: A fin come
out of the water.

A little triangle fin.

Blake: Not a mola?

Lifeguard: Like a
shark dorsal fin.

Barely broke the surface.

- Blake: How far out?
- Lifeguard: Right there!

It's that thing right there.

- Blake: I see the blob.
- Lifeguard: It's the blob.

Blake: Well, do you wanna
just call it to be safe?

- Lifeguard: It's right in there.
- Blake: Oh, that's close.

Lifeguard: Look at that...
Like it's got definition.

Blake: Where's the flag?

- Lifeguard: I'm blowing.
- Blake: All right.

- Lifeguard: You can see it clearly when one of the waves...
- Blake: I trust you, Mike.

It was just like a smudge
and it was headed that way.

- Beachgoer: Oh, headed that way?
- It was headed that way, yeah.

But just to be safe, we keep you
out of the water for an hour.

Beachgoer: Thank you.

How many cellphones you suppose
are pointed at us right now?

Person : There's
two others about, uh,

200 feet away, if that.

We're right in the
damn swimming area.

Blake: Any questions? Any...

Beachgoer: It's weird,
though, It was just so close.

Blake: Oh, yeah, they
get really close.

Beachgoer: Yeah. And then,

and then, we all just went
swimming half an hour later.

- It's so weird.
- Blake: Yeah, it is.

It's just something
we live with now.

Beachgoer: I know.

Blake: I had a dream
that there were people

swimming on the sandbar there,

and I saw a fin and I had my
whistle and it didn't work,

so I couldn't get
people out of the water.

And then the shark caught
a wave onto the shore

and bit everybody's feet.

And then I had a mass
casualty incident,

and I was the only
lifeguard there,

and I didn't have a phone.

And then, um, one of
the fire department guys

showed up with
one roll of gauze,

and that's all we
had to manage it.

It's on our minds a lot and
I'm even dreaming about them,

so I guess that says something.

Beau Gribbin: We had to harpoon
it today out of Scituate Harbor.

Harpoon this fish.

And when they were getting
ready to pull the fish aboard,

they had a great
white shark attack it.

And you can see it took a pretty
good-sized bite out of it.

You got a... You got a moon.

Seems like a lot of this
happens around the moon.

This would be in the
money of the fish.

This would be the
fattest point of the loin

with the highest yield in
the shoulders of the fish.

And just from the bite radius
of that, that's a big shark.

If you saw what we just saw,

you'd never go
back in the water.

Stormy Mayo: So yesterday,
I-I got a, a scrape on my arm,

and I jumped in the water,

and it opened up.

And I was bleeding a little bit.

And I immediately thought,

it's a sign of being, being
a good marine biologist,

I thought, "Man, I
wonder how far this...

"the, the smell of
this blood is going?

"I bet you it's going, you
know, at-at the molecular levels

"that these animals
can sense it,

"it's probably already gone
all the way to Wellfleet

and they're all rushing
in my direction."

So I got out of the water.

You know, in shallow water in
Provincetown, worried about...

It's a sign that terror spreads
through academia as well,

as well as through
the general public.

This is an interesting place,

because Cape Cod is very
rich in terms of fish life,

like sharks and,
increasingly, of course,

in marine mammals,
particularly seals and whales.

These sharks are great animals.

Anything that's living at
the apex of the food web

is a pretty special creature.

And we're still learning
so much about them

that we never used to.

What has been found out with all
the different tagging things,

those long-distance,
distance tags,

they weren't what I learned
in, in graduate school.

These are... these animals
range over huge distances.

It's exciting.

But we're in a time
of huge change.

With the radical change
in the number of seals

and white sharks,

there is no doubt that
this system is in a state

of remarkable flux.

And it's understandable
that people are concerned.

Commissioner: Next on our
agenda is public comment.

Anyone who wishes to address
the, uh, the board can.

Beaty: I, I know the
names of two of the people

-from Well... the Wellfleet Group.
-Okay.

John Kartsounis and, uh,
Drew Taylor and your group.

Uh, you... You're
still here, right?

Uh, my name's John Kartsounis,
Wellfleet resident.

Uh, been, uh, occasionally
on the Cape for 35 years,

and I've been a resident of
Wellfleet now for seven years.

Now, uh, the reason, uh,
why we're here is to...

present the
public's perception

of what's going on
at our hometown.

Uh, I've been recreating
in the waters off Wellfleet

since 1983.

I'm not a scientist,

but I think I know a lot
about what's been happening

in our town's beaches.

Uh, we've gone from
seeing zero seals,

to now we see an abundance and
an overpopulation of seals.

The question here is, we have a
law that's almost 50 years old

and we have special interest
groups that are telling us

that it is written in stone
and it cannot be changed,

but I think we have
to start somewhere.

I'm not, I'm not a scientist
but I am a politician.

And I have my ear to the ground
and what I'm saying is that,

as we look for solutions,

exemptions from the Marine
Mammal Protection Act

is a very, very heavy
climb. Very heavy.

It can, it can... it, it
involves the entire country.

And not only local NGO groups

but you have
national NGO groups.

So, whether or not I think
it's a good idea or not

is really irrelevant.

I'm looking for something
about this summer

and next summer.

My personal opinion is
that that is not realistic,

at least in the short term.

- That's, you know...
- Kartsounis: Well, you know what's heavy?

What's really a
heavy load to bear

is "out of business"
signs, foreclosure signs,

and basically a depression.

Kartsounis: Unless our public
officials start to think

in terms of public health
and safety, and that people

do have a right to be at
the beaches and to swim

and to recreate on Cape Cod,

as they have done
for a hundred years,

uh, without having
to fear being killed.

Taylor: To me, it all goes back
to the health of the ecosystem.

Somewhere between the
mid '80s and mid '90s,

whatever number it was then,
our ecosystem was flourishing.

There were seals, you could
surf-cast off the beach

and catch fish: stripers,
blues, flounder, whatever.

And then since then, you know,
the explosion of the seals

just kind of led us to
where we're at today.

I don't blame the
seals and the sharks.

- Right.
- It's just no management planning

and poorly written laws.

Jeff Souza: I still
tuna-fish with my father.

Him and I have fished together,
before I used to work for him.

So now the tables are turned,
now he gets to work with me.

I mean, it is neat being
able to come out here

and do the same
thing with my father,

being the fourth generation.

But most fishermen know what's
going on and see the changes.

Crew: Up.

Jeff Souza: Things that we
used to fish for here now

like codfish, or we used to
have good fluke fishing here,

there's no more
fluke around here.

Jeff Souza: We
blame the seals.

The bait fish don't wanna
come in because of them.

We see them come up with
striped bass, big striped bass.

So, you know, they're probably
eating the smaller fish.

Crew: All set.

Billy Souza: For
years, I caught lobster

and my wife sold them
out of our garage.

In the springtime,

all the fishermen would
come from New York

and they come up here for
a week and go fishing.

And then when they went home,

they would come by my house
and load up with lobsters.

Well, then all the
seals start showing up.

They can't catch a
fish from the beach.

The whole springtime fisheries
died, our business died.

The motels lost the
whole springtime.

- The bait and tackle shops went under.
- Yeah.

Everything, everything
just collapsed

because... 'cause
the seals came in.

And because of the Marine
Mammal Protection Act,

you can't touch 'em,
you can't look at 'em,

you can't even yell at
'em as you go past 'em.

Jeff Souza: To me, it's like
the ecosystem is out of line.

Don't get me wrong, I
like seeing whales, seals,

stuff like that, to a degree,

but when it's too
much, it's too much.

It's just been getting
worse and worse.

For the rest of my life,

we will still have this problem.

Emcee : P-Town, if
you are feeling drop-dead gorgeous,

can I get a "Yes, God"?

Audience: Yes, God!

Emcee: Now, I
did just find out

that it's Shark Week up in here.

I hear y'all got some
man-eaters in the house...

♪ So don't be the
swimmer that I ♪

♪ Am looking to bite ♪

Oh, my God. Oh!

No! Oh!

♪ Now don't
go hatin' the sharks ♪

♪ I couldn't if I tried ♪

♪ Their cartilage
helps cure cancer ♪

♪ But if they
bite you you die ♪

♪ I've been to
the desert on a horse with no name ♪

♪ It felt good to
be out of the rain ♪

The other night, I
was surfing there,

and a big wave,
they were all small,

except for one big wave.

And so I paddled out to see
if I can get another one.

I went off the...
I went off the bar.

And I think I saw a shark. I'm
almost positive it was now.

The way it swam,

all I saw was the very tip of
what I believe was the fin.

Maybe it was the
nose. I don't know.

It was brown like a
seal, but Mark told me,

Mark Johnson says,
"Sharks are brown."

It's never quite been the
same since the fatal attack.

Hey!

It did cause a rift
in the community.

Some of these people,
not all of them,

but some of these
people are acting like

the ocean's their
little playground,

their swimming pool.

And they have no
right to have...

And, you know, sharks have
no right to be in there

or something, or seals.

Nah, it doesn't work that way.

Franchitto: And at
first, I was very afraid.

But then I got, kind of,
accustomed to being out there.

I'm very careful. I
don't go out too deep.

Surfers put stripes on the
bottom of their boards now.

I guess it confuses the
sharks' sensory apparatus.

It seems to be effective.

We've got technology out
here now, buoys out there.

If untagged sharks go out there,

we don't know they're there.

But that's the way it is.

If you're in the
water frequently,

chances are lots of
animals have seen you

that you didn't know were there.

Skomal: I see it
right on the bottom.

Winton: How big is this fish?

Got some girth.

She may be a transient, though.

That's a big old
Gulf of Maine shark.

- She's going to...
- It's a big old "anywhere she wants to" shark.

Skomal: Yeah. Okay.

Winton: Do we... Are we
giving up on this one?

- Skomal: It's just going in circles down on the bottom.
- I gave up on it.

Skomal: That looks
like it's gonna work.

I-I'm not so much interested
what these animals do every week.

Not even every day.

I wanna know what they're doing
every minute, every second.

And this is the tool to do that.

I can look if this shark's
accelerating toward a seal,

and I'll see if it is
because there's a camera.

So we can start to look at
its behavior in shallow water

as it relates to its
natural prey, the seals,

'cause we really, you
know, believe that

the better we understand that
predator-prey relationship

between sharks and seals,

when, where, and how these sharks
are attacking and killing seals,

the better equipped we're gonna
be to advise beach managers

and the general public as to
how to modify their behavior.

Captain: This one's
out pretty good,

so go ahead and get,
and get in position.

Skomal: What's our depth here?

Captain: Seven feet, he's up.

Skomal: Look at
you doing a circle.

Maybe he'll come to
me. Come on, baby!

It's definitely
curious about us.

Like, "What are
you guys doing?"

I wish he would go downwind.

It's, it's got a lot of speed.

- Winton: I really like this one.
- Skomal: I do, too.

It's got some really
interesting evasive maneuvers.

Captain: Maybe we can try
the right side, I don't know.

Skomal: Come up a little
bit, turn in, go down sea.

Go down.

Oh, yeah.

- Go for it!
- Winton: Do it?

Skomal: We got it! Oh,
mother-fa-la-la-la.

- Winton: Beautiful!
- Captain: You got him, man.

Winton: Isn't that amazing?

And she's right back
in working this area...

right off the seals.

After every trip,

I wanna go through and
see, like, who got a tag?

Was it... is it a shark that
we've identified in the past?

Is it a shark that's, that's new
that we've never seen before?

So I always kind of
scan through and look.

This is a beautiful
profile shot.

So in this one, you can
really appreciate she's got

kind of like a rounded
tip there, no big notches,

but she's got a couple
little more distinct notches.

And there's different
dorsal kind of shapes.

Some of them have like a
hooked edge of the dorsal.

Um, ooh, this is a good one.

When I'm first describing
this process to people,

a lot of times,
they think I'm crazy

when I tell them, like,

"I can watch videos
and tell sharks apart."

They're like, "No,
it's just a shark."

But, um, they're really
remarkably different.

When they've got great
coloration on their tail,

it's probably the most
imaginative feature.

It's kind of like looking
for shapes in the clouds.

All those little things that
just kind of jog our memory,

that's where a lot of
them get their nicknames.

A lot of people think they're
kind of silly nicknames

or that we're trying to make
these animals seem more human,

but it really is just a
mental trick to help us

keep these sharks straight.

But to be able to actually
have an actual view

of what the shark is doing

is really a game-changer
in terms of understanding

their movement, patterns,

and to get a better
feel for the species.

I never, like, stop
being amazed by that fact

that we can go out and see
sharks we've seen, you know,

20 times before over
the past five years.

There's still so much to
learn about these animals.

A lot of people kind
of take it for granted

that this is the most famous
shark species there is,

but for a long time,

the northwest Atlantic
white shark population

was the most mysterious
white shark population

on the face of the planet.

Wilkinson: Part of the, the,
the importance of nature

and the life of a culture is

that it intersects the
life of the imagination.

It expands the territory

for what human
thought can encompass.

If I stand on the,

on the shore at Longnook,

and I say, "There
are sharks out there,

there are white
sharks out there,"

I have expanded the range and
the reach of my imagination.

I am sharing that environment
with a great creature,

one of nature's creations.

They are a force that throws us

up against very mysterious
aspects of life.

Life, death, power, violence.

The truly unsympathetic
quality of life.

We like to think that
our lives are orderly

and can be easily maintained,

but sharks are one
of the places where

we don't find cooperation
from the natural world,

um, in terms of our sense
of ownership and use.

Child: Oh, it's so cute!

Yeah.

Person:
Have you seen anything?

Doug Feeney: Nothing yet.

Not moving, though.

Person : No,
no drift whatsoever.

I, uh, I haven't
seen shit out here.

The only thing I got
out here was some bait.

Feeney: Yeah, right
on. I'll let you know.

Feeney: This collapse that
we've had with the fish,

it's not the seals.

I think they're
just a scapegoat.

They privatized fishing,

and it became a huge
success to some people,

to some organizations, and they
made tons of money off of it.

And then, that's the new norm.

Cod fish, haddock.

We've fished the shit
out of those fish.

Now we're stuck with
underutilized species.

Skate wings and dogfish.

For us to get a basic day's wage

out of that
underutilized species,

we gotta catch the limit.

A limit is 6,000
pounds of dogfish,

or 5,000 pounds of skate wing.

And this is such a
multibillion-dollar industry,

it's never gonna change until
we wipe it all the fuck out.

Like, there's something
else going on down there.

The water's warm.

I think this might
be the new norm.

We're warming up
pretty quick here.

Things start moving and
they move to colder waters,

so everything's marching north.

- Hey, Dre, a smooth-hound.
- Dre: No way. Really?

- He's alive.
- Wow! Cool!

Feeney: They only
catch these down south,

but with global warming,

they're startin'
to come up here.

All right, I gotta get him
back in the water so he lives.

There he is. All right.

And we're gonna let him
go swim. There he goes.

David "Spider" Gibson:
I've been here a long time,

and I've never seen a
bonito in like that.

I've seen them come,
but not that small ones.

They're a warm-water
fish, you know,

they're from down south.

I've been on the pier
for 25 years right here

and I've never seen anybody
catch 'em like that. Never.

So that tells me something.

Wilkinson: Human beings,

since the Industrial Revolution,

have grown up amidst

extraordinary
technological changes,

but not among extraordinary
natural changes,

and that's what's happening
to our generations.

And that's a totally
different thing

'cause we're not
in control of them.

Wendy Puryear: There's this
pretty significant shift

that is happening in species
on, on a global level.

You have animals

from the lower latitudes
that are coming up

because the waters
are getting warm

and food sources are moving up

so the predators
are following them.

And then, at the same time,
the polar ice caps are melting

so there are a lot of animals
from those higher latitudes

that are coming down
looking for prey,

they're looking for
suitable habitat.

Here we are right at
that, that middle crux

of everything kind of
all coming together.

Even if we want to
be completely selfish

and focused on our own
personal human well-being,

it's important that we understand
what's happening in the ecosystem.

Puryear: Since
my graduate work,

I've been trying to
understand how viruses evolve,

looking at influenza,
primarily in wild birds.

Water fowl is where you
find a lot of influenza,

naturally circulating
in the wild.

We're talking about gulls,
and shorebirds, and ducks.

They share habitat
with marine mammals,

and particularly with seals.

We know that you
can get spillover,

a transmission that happens
from one species to another.

Perhaps people have heard
about so-called bird flu

and swine flu.

Even though we have not been
seeing signs of virus in seals,

we wonder, did that necessarily
mean there was no virus

or was it possible that virus
was circulating out there

without seeing disease?

So we went out to
Muskeget Island

to see whether or not
we could detect virus.

Oh, nice.

Person 1: We're
gonna roll, ready?

Person 2: You wanna
roll him this way?

Puryear: Yeah.

Person 1: Watch that
back end, there.

Nice. Okay.

He's very feisty.

Puryear: Good boy.

- Oh.
- Oh.

Person 1: Are you
ready? Everybody's out?

-Puryear: We're good.
-Person 2: Yeah, you're good. Hop off.

Nice job. Whoo!

Good job. That was
not an easy one.

Puryear: So we went out and
did these health assessments.

We were thinking that
there could be virus,

that's why we went
out and looked,

but weren't really expecting
to find a whole lot.

We were actually pretty
surprised to find that

about 10% of them, we were
able to detect influenza virus.

And that's actually
a pretty high level,

even for wild bird reservoirs.

It's a very real concern,

because if you have a scenario

where a virus is
circulating in the animals,

otherwise they seem like
they're healthy and just fine,

that gives the virus the opportunity to
continue to circulate in that population.

There, finally.

Ready? One, two, three.

Puryear: Nice work.

Person: Nice job.

Puryear: Even if you're
just thinking about a virus

that's circulating
in a gray seal,

the gray seal doesn't
live in a bubble.

It's not easy for a virus to be able
to move from one species to another,

but if you have an animal

like manatees coming
up from Florida,

maybe they have never
had exposure to influenza

ever as a species,

so if they come into
contact with gray seals

that are, are shedding
out influenza,

that introduces a
higher likelihood

of having that
cross-species interaction.

All of those different
reassortments

that can happen in wild animals,

the training ground on
another mammalian host,

and then the opportunity
for those new variants

to come into humans

that we don't have a
pre-existing immunity to,

is a sort of scenario that
leaves us incredibly susceptible

to that becoming a
pandemic situation.

It's easy to get caught up

in the kind of "Jaws"
-esque angle to things,

and take our eye off
the bigger picture

that really we should
be thinking about,

which is that the
health of one species

really does impact all of us.

Franchitto: The, uh,
black flag is up.

Uh, apparently, they sighted
a shark at this beach.

So the water's
clear for an hour.

- Beachgoer: For an hour?
- Yeah.

- So...
- Beachgoer: Okay.

I just thought... Yeah,
I just found out myself.

- Beachgoer: Oh.
- Yeah.

- Beachgoer: They know how to deal with that, I guess.
- Yeah. I guess.

You know, just
be careful. Yeah.

- Beachgoer: Thanks for telling us.
- Yep, you got it.

I think I'll just have
a small dish of twist,

chocolate vanilla twist.

- Server: Okay.
- That's all I'll have, yeah.

Hello.

Franchitto: I think we'd
be better off if we realize

that we're one strand
in the web of life...

instead of thinking ourselves as

the dominant species that
can control everything.

Humankind must learn humility
in the face of nature.

If you go out in the water,

you gotta take that
chance, however slim it is.

Here you go.

This is... this is the
oldie but goodie right here.

I used to be, like,

four feet tall
riding this thing,

getting pushed into the wave.

Kartsounis: Do you think
you might go out today?

I would like to just because
of what the event is.

Been a big part of
my childhood, so...

But I haven't surfed on Cape
since the day it happened, so...

Kartsounis: It's
one of those things

where you have to kind
of weigh everything,

and, uh, I understand,
so just let me know.

I mean, you-you don't
have to paddle out.

- You don't have to do anything.
- Right.

- You just sit there and watch.
- Yeah.

Announcer:
You are all welcome

to the 373rd version

of the Oldtimers Classic.

It is time for us all
to ride the wild surf.

Social Security, you're up next.

Social Security,
4:00, up front.

Bring your board down.

The real Cape Cod
Oldtimers here.

Whoo-hoo! Here we go!

Announcer: Give 'em
a hero's welcome.

John, oh, my God.

Yeah, I thought this
was a single thing.

I know. Sweet, guys.

Announcer: And off you go!

Announcer: Ride the wild surf!

Surfer 1: All
right. Here we go.

- Surfer 2: Whoo!
- Surfer 1: Here we go!

- John's coming in.
- He's gonna get up in a little...

Oh!

He gave up...

Clementin, come on down!
Clementin, please come over!

Grab your board. Come
on. I see you hiding.

I see you hiding.

- Surfer: Katie!
- Katie!

Katie!

And Alexandra!

Announcer: Okay, let's hear it

for the women
surfers of Cape Cod!

Dana, what'd you do?

I heard you had the
first wave of the heat.

- Franchitto: That's why I took it.
- You did.

- Taylor: Yes.
- I did? Okay.

It's the longest wave
I've ever seen you ride.

Taylor: Yeah. You were
rocking out there.

- I was, like, screaming for you.
- Franchitto: Oh, yeah.

I heard the screaming and
I'm like, "Wow."

Announcer: Third place, we have Dana Ducktape. Dana!

Announcer: Second
place, Alexandria K...

because I can't
pronounce her last name.

There she is. Thank you.

Sette: Holy moly.
Look at that.

Two of their... one, one of their
engines is the value of this.

We're heading to
the outer harbor.

There's several hundred
gray seals that,

they don't literally haul out,

but they sit on the bottom
where it's really shallow.

All these animals, it's always
just the balance between, like,

food, rest, growth, sex,

and escaping predators, so,

like, "Let's find that
niche of the beach

where I can take a nap
and not get eaten."

Sette: Oh, wow.

There's a dead humpback.

Bryan Legare: Where?

Sette: West of the
southwest corner,

right out here.

Legare: Do we go?

Um...

Legare: I said, uh,
"Scott, Bryan here.

"Uh, we heard
there's a dead whale.

"Skomal is on the water.

And if he had a better
location, that would help us."

It's a... you know, it's
the needle in the haystack.

Like, in your mind a dead
whale is gonna be huge.

It's actually really...
They're really hard to find.

Sette: Wow.

- Look at all the petrels.
- Legare: Yeah.

Sette: So, you can see
all the little bits

that's kind of broke
down on the whale.

That's wonderful fat
for a small seabird

like a Wilson's storm petrel.

A whale floating at the surface
like this, as it breaks down,

it's gonna provide lots of feeding
opportunities for these birds.

And these birds
will migrate south.

And they're so small,
so fat stores for them.

It's really important.

So a boost like this will
probably be good for this...

Look at how many there are
just trailing behind us here.

It's beautiful.

Legare: You can see
how quickly, you know,

this animal's being
reclaimed into the ecosystem.

Sette: It's powerful, right?

Most people don't think
about whales when they die.

Right now, it's gassed up, but
if, if they create a cavity

and the gas is
released, it'll sink.

That's when it
becomes whale fall

and sinks to the bottom.

And then everything on
the bottom has a meal.

There have been sharks here.

Legare: Yeah. Those definitely
look like some shark bites.

Sette: That big open area
on the top of the whale,

those are all, all bites.

- Legare: Tow boat's here.
- Sette: Yeah, tow boat's here.

That's Noah. That's Noah Santos.

He's got a shark
cage right there.

Oh, my God. He is
going in that water.

- What?
- Legare: Yeah.

Sette: That is amazing.

Legare: Part of the
culture of Cape Cod.

Sette: Oh, Lord.

- Legare: That's not a whale watch though.
- Sette: That's the "Ock."

Legare: Oh, that's
Greg that's on that.

- Sette: Greg Skomal?
- Legare: Yeah.

- Sette: Oh, cool. So he's here.
- Legare: Yeah.

Sette: Oh, yeah. No
worries. How's it going?

- Oh, yeah.
- Legare: Mm-hmm.

Legare: Yeah.

Legare: Yeah.

Sette: So, Bryan, you see the
elliptical marks on the side here?

- Legare: Yeah.
- Sette: There's a shark fin right there.

- I just saw a shark fin.
- Legare: You just saw a shark fin?

Dorsal fin, yup. You
guys look this way.

- There was just a shark tip.
- Yeah, right in the back.

Sette: Yep. Oh, oh! Was that a...
Oh. Was that a white or a blue?

- Legare: Uh, that's not a white.
- Sette: Okay.

- Sette: Oh! Right behind, that's a shark!
- Legare: Oh, look at that.

- Sette: Yeah.
- Legare: That's a white shark.

Sette: White shark!

- Legare: Big one.
- Sette: Yeah.

- RV "Ock," RV "Ock."
- Legare: Yeah!

Sette: This is "Volta" on 82.

Legare: Holy!

Sette: Oh, why
you coming to me?

- Legare: That's a...
- Sette: He is looking at us.

- Don't come on my...
- Legare: Tagged.

Sette: Yeah. Get the
dorsal fin, Bryan.

Legare: It's big.
It's really big.

Person: Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Holy fucking shit.

Oh, my God.

Noah Santos: Fucking
shit. Get me out of this!

Person: Oh, my God.

Santos: It's like
watching Jaws go by.

Person: Oh, my God,
babe, you did it!

- Santos: Whoo!
- Person: Whoo!

Santos: Check that off the
bucket list. Holy shit!

Mayo: The ecosystem provides
balance and stability

if we'll just give it
balance and stability.

Those of us who live here
see little snapshots.

As this ecosystem changes,

the snapshots
become more telling.

One can imagine that
Native Americans,

who lived on these shores,

probably saw little difference

in, in the coming and
going of fish and birds,

and, and whales,

probably for millennia.

Now in a lifetime we're
seeing those differences.

My grandfather said that
when my ancestors came here,

there was an abundance
of fish such that

in this very location,
right in the harbor,

they fished with
big wicker baskets.

It was a time of balance.

And this ecosystem right now
one feels, I certainly feel,

is in a state where it's
trying to find the balance.

But human activities have
imbalanced the system.

Finding that balance,

and finding how humans can live
with that balance is not easy.

- Really looks pretty today.
- Person: Yeah.

- Did you see the whale?
- Blake: No, I didn't. Did you?

Person: I... Yeah. Your
mother, when she went down

and said there's a whale coming,

- I saw the spout.
- Blake: Oh, nice.

We're going up because we're
gonna pull the chair up.

Oh, you're pulling
the chair up too?

- All right. - Blake: Yep.
- Person: Thanks, Dana.

I don't know if
there's any space.

Blake: That's all right.
We'll figure it out. Thanks.

The lifeguards are
taking up their chairs,

- so there's no more lifeguards.
- Beachgoer: Oh.

Yeah, if there's
a shark out there,

you won't know unless you
happen to see the fin.

Person: Up, up, up, up, up!

Wilkinson: When my parents bought
a piece of land in Wellfleet,

there were no houses,
it was all woods.

In those days, you felt
you'd reached an outpost.

The land was wild
and uncontaminated.

Only by a, a thumbnail is
the Cape still a wild place.

You know, it's this tiny
little vest pocket park.

Too many people use it.

It's just holding on,

just holding on for
its ecological life.

Blake: I mean, I'm
a little worried,

because, like, we're
still in peak shark season

and people are still going
to be coming to the beach.

I mean, some of
us will be around.

So, we'll keep an eye
out, like, unofficially.

We'll definitely be
looking for sharks

'cause we can never turn it off,

and we can never
stop lifeguarding.

Hopefully people
will pay attention.