STATE WE’RE IN: Don’t let Mary Lee give you shark-phobia!

By Michele Byers
You’ve probably heard about Mary Lee the great white shark.
This 16-foot shark recently became a Twitter sensation — with more than 70,000 followers — as a result of news stories and satellite technology that can track her whereabouts in real time.
And Mary Lee gets around! In the past month, she’s been up and down the East Coast from Long Island to Virginia Beach. Her fans — and those who would prefer to avoid her — are using online tracking to find out if she’s cruising near their favorite local beaches. As recently as June 2, she was off the coast of New Jersey in Avalon.
Should we be worried about a dip at the Jersey Shore when Mary Lee’s in the vicinity?
No, advises Marie Levine, executive director of the Princeton-based Shark Research Institute: “People are not on their menu so it’s kind of amazing that people are getting so excited.”
Despite the impression left by “Jaws,” Levine said, the preferred foods of great whites are seals and fish. There’s a good chance Mary Lee will soon head to feeding grounds off Cape Cod where there’s a large seal colony on Monomoy Island.
If Mary Lee is hanging around New Jersey, Levine added, it could be because she’s pregnant and about to give birth. In the 1960s, New Jersey was identified as a “pupping” ground for great whites.
The Shark Research Institute was founded in 1991 by members of the Explorers Club living in the Princeton area. Its mission is to conduct and sponsor research on sharks and promote their conservation.
The nonprofit also works to correct misconceptions about sharks and prevent the slaughter of more than 100 million sharks annually.
“Sharks are so necessary because they keep other populations in check,” Levine said. “If we had an ocean without sharks, we would have a septic system out there.”
She explained that when shark populations plummet, populations of skates and rays explode. These fish feed on shellfish like scallops and clams, which filter impurities out of water. An overpopulation of skates and rays depletes shellfish. In that way, a lack of sharks leads to a dirtier ocean.
The Shark Research Institute also tags great whites and other sharks to collect information on their movements although the famous Mary Lee is not one of its sharks. Mary Lee was tagged by Ocearch, another research organization.
The Shark Research Institute has launched the Global Shark Attack File, a worldwide database of reported shark attacks, including their dates, locations and circumstances. Levine hopes this database will help allay irrational fears about shark attacks.
“We want to take the whole subject of shark attacks out of the closet and let people see what really happened,” Levine said. “A little cut on the toe will go viral as a shark attack when it’s usually just a collision.”
Sometimes, she said, surfers literally fall off their boards and onto sharks that would not, otherwise, bite.
World Oceans Day is June 8, and this year’s theme is “Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet.” It’s a good time to remember that despite their fierce reputation, sharks play a critical role in the ocean ecosystem and the balance of nature.
To learn more about sharks, visit the Shark Research Institute website at www.sharks.org.
To track Mary Lee the great white and other sharks with high-tech tags, go to www.ocearch.org.
And to find out details of shark attacks all over the world, check out www.sharkattackfile.net.
A great resource for learning about protecting clean ocean water and coastal habitats is the American Littoral Society — visit its website at www.littoralsociety.org. 
Michele Byers is executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. For more information, contact her at info@njconservation.org or visit NJCF’s website at www.njconservation.org. 