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Summary
People report seeing a Great White shark off the Oregon Coast near Newport, Ore. OregonSurfShop.com posted a photo of a Great White swimming in 3 feet of water. And another surfer spotted a 16-foot shark swim between two surfers.
Story Published: Nov 5, 2009 at 5:06 PM PST
NEWPORT, Ore. -- People report seeing a Great White shark off the Oregon Coast near Newport, Ore.
OregonSurfShop.com posted a photo (above) of a Great White swimming in 3 feet of water. And another surfer spotted a 16-foot shark swim between two surfers.
"I can say in the 22 years i've been surfing the oregon coast - there's probably more incidents than we've heard of," said Ralph Meier with Envision Surfboards.
A shark researcher said warm water is partially to blame. So are the people venturing out into the ocean.
"The fact remains there are more people in the water than ever before in the U.S. -- population is growing -- so fact remains that shark encounters are going to increase," said Wade Smith, a shark researcher at Oregon State University.
Smith said unusually warm water temperatures may have something to do with the increase as Great Whites follow their prey to the Oregon Coast.
Two tips to avoid encounters with great whites:
- Don't go into the ocean alone
- Avoid the ocean at dawn and dusk
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