2 replies to this topic

[ScubaGypsy]

While at dinner with my 3 boys at a local diner this evening, a patron came running in and announced that a shark had washed up at First Beach (Eastons) in Newport. We quickly gobbled down our dinners and drove on over only to find nothing out of the ordinary except the presence of a local television crew truck. As we walked across the beach, we did find a something washing in on the shore that was likely a section of a large animal such as a shark. Then while leaving we stopped to speak with the local television reporter. Apparently it was a decomposing 20' basking shark which had a satellite tracking device on it and had washed up on the shore in the morning. Folks from the National Marine Fisheries Laboratory had come over and did a partial dissection to see if they can determine the cause of death. After they finished, the shark was buried in the sand at the beach. A synopsius from the television station with a grainy picture can be found here.

[captsteve]

16 yrs ago we had a 19 ft one wash up on ocracoke. every year or so we see one maybe 12-15ft.......

[ScubaGypsy]

16 yrs ago we had a 19 ft one wash up on ocracoke. every year or so we see one maybe 12-15ft.......

Have you ever seen a basking shark live in the sea? I've never even heard of anyone around here seeing one before. But in terms of wash ups, last year we had a huge blue whale wash up on Ocean Drive in Newport. It was there for about a week as it was unclear how they were going to haul it away. Finally they cut it up in smaller sizes and trucked it out to a landfill.