UNH Today

With Shark Week – the annual celebration of all things shark that Discovery has launched into a pop culture phenomenon – set to begin July 20, UNH researchers are gathering some timely information to contribute locally.

White sharks appear to be using New Hampshire waters as “a bit of a highway to get further up the coast,” says researcher Nathan Furey, a conclusion based on data gathered from a partnership with the town of Hampton to place acoustic receivers in the ocean in order to track local shark activity.

Though UNH-placed receivers did not detect any shark activity in the most recent window of data collection – they went into the ocean in early June and were retrieved in early July – Furey says they’ve detected anywhere from one to eight sharks during the summer seasons over the last few years. But the sharks are not spending any significant time lingering in New Hampshire waters; rather, they seem to be passing by en route to other destinations.

“Every summer we do detect a handful of sharks, but one of the things we’ve learned is they don’t tend to hang out very long – we only tend to detect them for up to 10, 20, 30 minutes,” Furey, associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, says. “To me that implies that they are largely just swimming by.”

That data has been gathered using acoustic sensors placed in the ocean to monitor the movements of tagged sharks and other sea life. The sensors pick up pings from tagged animals and fish that pass by, providing information on what is moving through and when.

The data is not gathered in real time – rather, Furey collects it every couple of weeks by downloading it from the receivers and interpreting it from his lab or office. The sensors record things like date, time, water temp, etc., all valuable pieces of information for nearby towns as well as researchers, allowing them to study shark behavior, movement patterns and migration routes.

UNH began partnering with Hampton several years ago, and it has proven to be a mutually beneficial arrangement. The data has given local lifeguards and other safety personnel important information about activity in the water, both as a way to ensure there’s no danger to the public and to keep tabs on an important nearby habitat.

“For us it’s that research and public safety all coming together to benefit each other,” Patrick Murphy, chief of New Hampshire State Beach Patrol, says of the connection with UNH. “It’s what New Hampshire and the Seacoast are really about is making sure it’s all working together. It’s been an outstanding partnership. It’s about how do we make people’s day at the beach safer, along with how do we keep ecosystems running how they should be?”

As Furey noted, the data supports the theory that white sharks are using New Hampshire waters as a path to a destination rather than serving as a landing spot. Additional data from another project Furey is working on backs that up, as well. Sensors placed between four and seven miles offshore as part of a project focused on Atlantic cod (compared to about six-tenths of a mile for the acoustic sensors in Hampton) have detected more shark activity – picking up 23 different white sharks between 2023 and 2024 – indicating that the sharks have little interest in getting up close and personal at local beaches.

“We detect more sharks in those further offshore waters, so it’s just another clue to us that these white sharks are probably not spending a lot of time near our beaches or coming in very close to them,” Furey says.

The sensors pick up a lot more than just sharks – in fact, the majority of pings come from other species, including sturgeon and striped bass, Furey says. All of the data combines to paint a picture of a healthy environment where sharks aren’t viewed as an imminent threat to beachgoers but rather a welcome part of a natural ecosystem.

“People worry about Jaws, but it’s more that (sharks) are here, living, doing what they’re supposed to in the ocean, and we’re just enjoying the ocean with them,” Murphy says.