CHATHAM, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Sharks are being spotted all around the Cape and it has some people on edge as they head to the beach, and that is not the only concern beachgoers have.
State environmental officials have been closely tracking sharks and working with communities to keep them in the loop so they can educate the public. We have to be clear these sharks were well off shore, not near the swimming areas.
Just off the coast of Provincetown, a woman saw a fin swimming through the water. We showed the photo to State Senior Biologist Dr. Greg Skomal.
"It looks like a basking shark, which is harmless and feeds off plankton but we'll take a closer look, but the quality of the video isn't unfortunately spectacular," Skomal said.
Basking sharks are normal in these waters and Skomal says great whites have become more common.
"We just got off the water today and we saw at least a half a dozen white sharks. We're tagging them and tracking their movements. We're hoping by collecting information we can share that with beach managers and they can get a sense of when to close the beaches," Skomal said.
Beachgoers in Chatham know there are sharks in the water, they also know they're safe.
Megan Sullivan was at the beach and she said, "The lifeguards have been swimming across and that makes us look out and they're trying to protect us."
There have been many shark sightings across the Cape including a seal that was injured by one. Skomal says swimmers should not be afraid of the water, just use common sense and try to stay away from what they're really after.
"Sharks are here, white sharks, and they have been implicated for hurting people but they're here for the seals," Skomal said.
There is another big safety concern at the beaches this summer and that is rip currents. Some beaches have seen record numbers of rescues and it only takes a second to get caught in one of these rip currents.
Mark Ditomassi said, "Two days ago they saved a woman out here, she was being pulled and they got the lifeguards out."
Lifeguards have been working non-stop this summer, pulling people out of the water due to the currents.
There have been dozens of rescues at beaches in Salisbury and Hampton, N.H. In Maine, some beaches were closed for a period of time. An environmental scientist told us earlier this week that the non-stop winter storms changed many shorelines, which have lead to the increase in rip current conditions.
In Mass., the number of rip current rescues at state beaches have already exceeded the total number from all of last summer. There were 54 last year and up until Thursday, there were 58 this summer.
Most beaches will post rip current conditions near the lifeguard stands, be sure to check those once you arrive.