A shark named Jekyll has pinged off of the coast of Sea Isle City on Monday, May 8, 2023, at approximately 8:30 p.m.

OCEARCH has been tracking Jekyll since December 2022.

To follow, you can track Jekyll here.

At the time of tagging, Jekyll was 8 feet, 8 inches long, and weighed 395 pounds.

We have been seeing more and more of these sightings.

Is it because there are more sharks? Or, could it be that groups like OCEARCH do such a great job tracking sharks?

OCEARCH is a well-respected organization that meticulously charts shark activity.

In the past 9 years, OCEARCH tagged 83 sharks along the East Coast.

It's not complicated. The reason there has been the number of shark sightings off Atlantic City, Toms River, and numerous other waters in South Jersey is increasing is because the temperature of the ocean is warming.

This has brought sharks closer than ever before because the warming waters cause the sharks to migrate northward.

In late April 2022, OCEARCH tagged a 1,000-pound Great White shark off of the New Jersey Coast.

In 2022, we wrote about Freya, an 880-pound shark spotted off of both Atlantic City and Toms River, New Jersey.

OCEARCH did not reveal as yet exactly how far off of the coast of Sea Isle City Jekyll is.

OCEARCH has also confirmed that Jekyll was also spotted off of the coast of North Carolina.

From there, Jekyll headed north by way of the Atlantic shoreline.

Many oceanic scientists have concluded that if the ocean water continues its present warming pattern, shark sightings in once rare areas will become more frequent.

I have become a big fan of OCEARCH and I love the great work that they do.

There is no official word from OCEARCH if Jekyll is in the Sea Isle City area in search of Mr. Hyde.

SOURCE: OCEARCH

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