Drone video displaying a big nice white shark close to a few of Maine’s hottest seashores has prompted police in a single coastal city to subject a warning on Tuesday. The warning was issued simply weeks after there have been a number of nice white sightings in an space of Maine the place a girl was fatally attacked by a shark 5 years in the past.
Scarborough’s marine useful resource officer acquired phrase of the roughly 10- to 12-foot shark on Monday, police stated. The shark was noticed within the space of Crescent Seaside State Park, Higgins Seaside and Pine Level Seaside, they stated, all positioned inside a half-hour’s drive of Portland.
Industrial clam fisherman David Lancaster was capable of take drone footage of the shark swimming simply beneath the floor, its gray fin poking by the light swells. He stated seeing the massive shark was “magnificent,” if a bit shocking.
This TV seize exhibits an aerial picture of an excellent white shark off the coast of Scarborough, Maine, on Monday, August 11, 2025.
David Lancaster through AP
“It was pretty crazy to see in the local waters. There are some really amazing creatures in the sea,” Lancaster, who lives in close by Scarborough, stated. “It’s in the back of your head, but you have to accept it.”
White sharks, made well-known 50 years in the past within the film “Jaws,” will not be generally seen off Maine, however have lived within the state’s waters for hundreds of years. Sightings ticked up in recent times, and a few scientists say the state’s rising inhabitants of seals may very well be a motive for extra shark exercise. White sharks feed on marine mammals similar to seals.
The police division in Scarborough stated they had been circulating the drone footage “for public situational awareness” after the massive fish was noticed.
“We are sharing this information promptly to keep the community informed,” police stated in a press release.
Shark assaults in Maine
Deadly shark bites for people are exceedingly uncommon, as are unprovoked assaults in Maine.
The primary recorded deadly shark assault in Maine occurred in the summertime of 2020 when an excellent white shark killed 63-year-old Julie Dimperio Holowach of New York Metropolis. She was attacked off Bailey Island, round 15 miles northeast of Portland. The state responded with efforts to offer beachgoers with extra warning in regards to the presence of sharks.
Officers described the 2020 incident as an unprovoked assault, however stated that Holowach was sporting a wetsuit and will have been mistaken for a seal.
Final month, officers in Maine warned beachgoers to train warning after a number of sightings of nice white sharks in the identical space the place Holowach was fatally attacked.
There have solely been two documented unprovoked shark assaults in Maine, together with the one which killed Holowach, in response to researchers from the Worldwide Shark Assault File, a database run by the Florida Museum of Pure Historical past and the College of Florida.
Extra from CBS Information
