How a Shark Epidemic Is Changing Surfing and Community on Cape Cod

Cody DeGroff

This was one of the more important stories I have written in a while, focusing on the Great White Shark problem on Cape Cod. Granted the water off Massachusetts is a bit colder than New Jersey, but I am trying to imagine how we would handle this on Long Beach Island.

“My son is about to turn 14. I started him surfing when he was about 5. When he was 8 or 9, he’d be up and riding. He loved to surf in the summer and he was starting to get into the shoulder season,” says Archer. “Now, he doesn’t surf anymore during the peak season.”

Archer’s referring to the prime timeframe from August through October, when the Atlantic hurricane season goes into overdrive, bringing rare swell combined with the warmest water temperature. What used to be a celebrated season is now avoided by most. In a place where your wetsuit can freeze into a yoga pose in the bed of your truck, winter is now the preferred season.

Cody DeGroff

About the Author: Jon Coen

I live on Long Beach Island, in the great state of New Jersey.… like, year round. Winters can be a little rough, long stretches of frozen desolation. But then there are those surreal days of soft snowfall and empty waves. Summers are crazy hectic. As the Island swells to capacity we all have to put our heads down to make coin, but our friends are all around, the island is green and the water’s blue. Of course, in between those are the blissful days when the garden is exploding and someone drops off fresh striped bass, chasing snowy barrels in the winter or blue claw crabs with my kid in the summer.