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  • 7/4/2025
Thousands of migratory sharks pass by the Florida coast twice a year, in addition to multiple species of resident sharks in the water.
Transcript
00:00just a hundred yards or so off most beaches along the eastern seaboard is a super highway
00:07of tens of thousands of sharks. Their migratory pattern takes them right past New Smyrna Beach
00:13two times a year in the late spring and in the fall. What we found is particularly interesting
00:19is with these thousands of black tip sharks that they're passing New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County
00:25by the thousands. Even with that fact you're 30 times more likely to be struck by lightning than
00:32be bitten by a shark. Now over my shoulder is where the Halifax River and the Atlantic Ocean collide.
00:38It is a hotbed for bait fish and this is where you'll find a lot of the sharks feeding. The larger
00:44species the bull shark comes in and out of the Halifax and into the Atlantic freely and that's
00:49oftentimes when it collides with humans. The area near the Ponds Inlet also features sandbars and
00:55steep drop-offs which are natural gathering spots for sharks. And lastly the Sunshine State is also
01:01home to 13 different species of sharks who use Florida waters as a nursery grounds for their pups.
01:09Some places you have sharks that are basically resident. They stay there all year round. They're
01:13not even migratory and I think that's part of the attraction of New Smyrna is you have this
01:19influx of this seasonal influx of sharks overlaid on top of a resident population that's always there.
01:27And so no matter what you have sharks in the water you know pretty much any time of the year and so
01:32you've always got the opportunity for someone to have a negative encounter. Along New Smyrna Beach,
01:40Florida, I'm Leslie Hudson reporting.

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