Mary Lee the great white shark is back, and she’s looking for a mate

It's believed that Mary Lee give birth last May and is now returning to a breeding ground off Cape Cod to find a mate. (Courtesy, OCEARCH/Rob Snow) — It’s believed that Mary Lee give birth last May and is now returning to a breeding ground off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to find a mate. (Courtesy OCEARCH/Rob Snow)

Pictured half in the water during Mary Lee's capture is Brett McBride, OCEARCH Captain and Fishing Master. (Courtesy OCEARCH/Rob Snow) — Pictured half in the water during Mary Lee’s capture is Brett McBride, OCEARCH captain and fishing master. (Courtesy OCEARCH/Rob Snow)

OCEARCH captures, tags and follows sharks: "To solve the puzzle of their lives: Where are they mating? Where are they birthing? Where do they migrate?" expedition leader for OCEARCH Chris Fischer said. (OCEARCH/Rob Snow) — OCEARCH captures, tags and follows sharks “to solve the puzzle of their lives: Where are they mating? Where are they birthing? Where do they migrate?” said OCEARCH expedition leader Chris Fischer. (OCEARCH/Rob Snow)

Trackers follow animals three ways. A tag on the dorsal fin shows where they are "right now" when the animal surfaces and it’s out of the water. An internal tag "pings" when it gets close to monitor stations that are periodically checked for data. Another tag reads water temperatures and follows the animal's patterns of diving and surfacing. (Courtesy OCEARCH/Rob Snow) — Trackers follow animals three ways. A tag on the dorsal fin shows where they are “right now” when the animal surfaces and it’s out of the water. An internal tag “pings” when it gets close to monitor stations that are periodically checked for data. Another tag reads water temperatures and follows the animal’s patterns of diving and surfacing. (Courtesy OCEARCH/Rob Snow)

When she was tagged in Sept. 17, 2012, off Cape Cod, Mary Lee was 16 feet long and weighed 3,456 pounds. (Courtesy OCEARCH/Rob Snow)

A specially designed 75,000-pound-capacity hydraulic platform is used to safely lift mature sharks out of the ocean. (Courtesy OCEARCH/Rob Snow)

That's what 40,249 miles traveled since Sept. 17, 2012, looks like on the @OCEARCH Global Shark Tracker. -;() #ping pic.twitter.com/VKxMqczsTd
— Mary Lee the shark (@MaryLeeShark) May 12, 2017

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December 2, 2023 | Chris Fischer on timid East Coast sharks (WTOP)

WASHINGTON — A massive great white shark is being tracked in waters off the Virginia and Maryland coasts.

Mary Lee is longer than some cars, at 16 feet, and weighs 4,000 pounds. She passed by the mouth of Chesapeake Bay Friday morning.

“It’s likely she’s northbound, maybe going to look for a mate,” said Chris Fischer, OCEARCH founding chairman and expedition leader. “In the fall, [she’s expected to arrive] off Cape Cod and Nantucket.”

Mary Lee is among numbers of sharks being tracked electronically by OCEARCH.

Learning about sharks well enough to help them survive and thrive will balance the ecosystem, Fischer said, to ensure that there is an abundance of fish for generations to come.

“When we lose these large sharks and open ocean sharks, the second tier of the food chain explodes and wipes out all the baby fish we need to grow up for us to eat.”

Shark populations are being managed well here, Fischer said. But outside the United States, hundreds of thousands of sharks are killed a day for their fins, which are used to make soup.

You can follow OCEARCH-tagged sharks in near-real time, by using the free online Global Shark Tracker, by downloading the Global Shark Tracker app, or by following OCEARCH on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.