Near 900-Pound White Shark Finds Way To Delaware Bay

SUSSEX COUNTY, Del.- Her name is Freya. A female white shark that weighs nearly nine hundred pounds.

It has been tracked since March 26 off the coast of North Carolina and it showed up in the Delaware Bay last Wednesday.

Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware School of Marine Science and Policy Aaron Carlisle says white sharks are on the hunt for something delicious to eat.

"There's a seasonal movement where they go up and there is this recolonization of New England waters by the gray seals," Carlisle said. "And historically in most places around the world we find white sharks consistently and aggregated in certain areas it's around seal colonies or elephant seal colonies."

Carlisle also says there is more of a likelihood of bigger sharks passing through here than smaller ones.

"Smaller white sharks usually are stuck kind of more constrained into warmer waters more southerly and the warmer temperatures, whereas adults like to get into very cooler waters because those are more reproductive and there's a lot more things to eat," Carlisle added.

Quest Adventures in Lewes offers chair, umbrella, mat, and kayak rentals and guided tours. Owner Matthew Carter says that clients come back and talk about the different fish they see including sharks. Herring Pointe is constantly a home to different marine animals.

"We have the tides and the rocks and you know the depths of the water really shallow and really deep," Carter said. "We have tons of fish going through which is a major feeding ground for the dolphins and the sharks, blues, stripers, all kinds of fish that come through."

The name Freya translates to noble women. Sea World gave the over eleven foot shark that name to honor women researchers studying the species. According to OCEARCH, Freya was last located on Monday night in the Rhode Island Sound near Martha's Vineyard.

Summer is here and so is the possibility of sharks swimming their way through our local bays.