Growing Network of Pilots Communicates Shark Sightings to Cape Beachgoers

Commercial pilot Iain Day routinely flies his own plane from Chatham Municipal Airport up to Nauset Inlet in Eastham and then back down along the coast, and he has always seen sharks.

"I thought one day, why don't we have a program with aircraft patrolling the shoreline, especially when it's busy during the summer?" he said. "Obviously, there's a ton of people flying planes — tour pilots, jet pilots — why not give them a way to communicate to people on the ground?"

Day did some research and found a relatively unused radio frequency and started looking for volunteers. Heather Doyle, one of the founders of Cape Cod Ocean Community, a social media-based group with around 500 members, was able to use donations to buy hand-held airband radios that could receive on the frequency Day specified and put out the word that they were available on loan to anyone interested in going to the beach and monitoring the channel.

"It's line-of-sight (communication) with a plane you can see," Doyle said. There is, as yet, no formal agreement with towns or the Cape Cod National Seashore. For now, it's just more information that the beachgoing public can use to make decisions.

"The pilot in an informal fashion says, 'I'm over White Crest (Beach) and I see a shark 50 to 60 feet offshore,'" Doyle said. "You tell friends, family, you don't clear the beach, don't run to lifeguards. It's informal — people helping people."

Wellfleet lifeguards had hoped they could tap into the system, beach director Suzanne Grout Thomas said, but their radios could not receive the frequency.

"I think it would be good to know what they are (seeing)," Thomas said. She thought the town would evaluate its participation and potential costs during the off-season.

Doyle and others said the volunteer pilots would be especially useful in the hours after lifeguards leave each day, when there are still many people using the water, and in the fall when beaches no longer have lifeguard coverage.

National Seashore Superintendent Brian Carlstrom said the idea was intriguing, but there was no plan to monitor that channel this year.

Dan Kelly, chief pilot for the sightseeing company Stick 'n Rudder at Chatham's airport, was one of the first pilots recruited by Day. In recent years, flying the beaches to look for sharks has become a highlight of any aerial sightseeing tour. He said he has definitely seen an increase in the number of sharks in the past few years.

"It's really good information and easy to see them from above," Kelly said. Pilots see the sharks — sometimes quite close to people, especially surfers — but until this year had no way to directly communicate their concerns to those on the beach.

"The more people who have the radios, the better," said Kelly, who hopes that lifeguards are able to get airband radios as part of their equipment. Orleans Natural Resources Manager Nathan Sears said Friday that his department does have a scanner that can pick up civilian aircraft broadcasts.

Doyle's organization had flyers made up, and the pilots distributed them to other airports whose planes include the Cape in their flights, such as Cape Cod Airfield in Marstons Mills, Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, the Falmouth Airpark and Plymouth Municipal Airport. Day said he contacted the State Police Air Wing in Plymouth and it also agreed to broadcast when its helicopter is flying over the Cape.

Day said the spotter planes used by researchers such as Gregory Skomal, principal shark scientist for the state Division of Marine Fisheries, fly at 500 to 1,000 feet and sightseeing planes are 500 to 2,000 feet up. He said it was relatively easy to tell sharks from seals.

"Sharks are always moving; seals stop and they're not as big," Day said. "Some of these sharks have been big."

He thinks that, at the moment, the skies are not too crowded, but that might have to be addressed in the long run.

— Follow Doug Fraser on Twitter: @dougfrasercct.

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