Australian 'Joan of Shark,' Monstrous Great White, Closes Down Beaches

Australian "Joan of Shark," a huge 16-foot great white, was spotted swimming close to beaches, scaring beachgoers and forcing officials to close them down. Researchers had placed a tracking device on the shark, so they were warned in advance and let residents of Albany, Western Australia not to go in the water.

The Australian "Joan of Shark" great white is the largest of its kind to undergo the tracking program, The Telegraph U.K. reported. At 16 feet and 1.6 tons, it bears a resemblance to the terrorizing great white shark Jaws from decades ago.

The country's Department of Fisheries was responsible for implementing the tracking device March 30. They managed to capture the creature off King George Sound, which is south of Perth, Australia, and place a tracker in its stomach. They called it a "groundbreaking opportunity" to study the movements of great white sharks.

"This is very exciting and potentially a world first. Lots of juveniles get tagged, but to have a fully mature female and get 10 years of data out of it is a big thing for us," Mark Kleeman, who manages the Shark Monitoring Network, told The New Castle Herald.
"We are excited by the potential of what this shark can give us. We will be able to see where it is traveling and how often. Over time we will be able to build the data and then we can see if there are any pasterns forming, which is a great start for understanding more about them," he added.
To track wildlife, researchers use over 300 sensors on the ocean's bottom, which allows them to know when creatures like Joan of Shark are close. The tracking program is also an alternative to culling sharks from the population. To date, the enormous female great white has been spotted close to the shore several times and nine times this past Saturday alone.