Great whites in the Gulf

“You’re going to need a bigger boat,” said Roy Scheider as Chief Brody in the iconic thriller, “Jaws.” Released in 1975, the Steven Spielberg film created an instant fear of sharks as beachgoers saw them as aggressive, man-eating predators. The great white shark can grow to be very large with adults at 15-16 feet weighing 1,500-4,000 pounds. Their bite force is equivalent to about 4,000 pounds of force per square inch. Scary.

That impression can still be felt today, some 50 years later, especially with Orange native Chester Moore, a long-time wildlife journalist with more than 200 awards to his name, said “Jaws” fascinated him when he first saw the movie as a youngster.

“The great white has always been my all-time favorite creature,” who said Moore. “It was seeing the movie ‘Jaws’ and Jacques Cousteau Ocean specials on TV.”

Moore’s fascination grew immensely when he dove alongside great whites in caves at the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco, California.

“I know a captain who had a great white sighting about 50 miles off the coast of Sabine Pass,” said Moore. “With that, I really began taking a closer look. There is satellite tracking technology for sharks, and we are seeing them show up on the Texas coast.”

One was tagged by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy , and it was tagged again a year later in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Two months later, that same shark was 100 yards off the beach in South Padre Island and came all the way up the coast and hung out for a few days around Sabine Pass.

“All of that really reinforced the fact that we need to talk about this apex predator coming back to Gulf waters.”

Moore has since created a website, gulfgreatwhites.com and filmed a documentary with famed filmmaker Paul Fuzinski titled “Great White Sharks in the Gulf,” which will be shown Saturday, June 21, at the free family day event at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free.

“There was a lot of research done,”  said Moore. “Whether it was looking through scientific documents and studies, which are always exciting to dig through, or interviewing people in Cape Cod. We actually got to see their water program and I was about 5 feet away from a great white. It was one of those moments where I was very blessed.”

Moore also was able to bring three kids from his Higher Calling Wildlife/Wild Wishes/Kingdom Zoo Wildlife Center with him. He and his wife Life are founders of the three organizations that seek to bring the love of Christ to hurting children through wild-life encounters. The group works with critically ill children, those in the foster system, victims of trafficking and children that have faced traumatic loss.

One of many interesting facts Moore shares about great whites is the perception that they are beach sharks – staying close to shore while feeding off large fish and marine mammals, but they are not.

“They like to go hang out in 3,000-4,000 feet of water in the middle of the ocean,” said Moore. “Also, they are movers, but we are finding records as far back as the 1950s when there were three great white sharks caught in one weekend off the Texas coast.”

With all the research done by Moore and others, the great white remains a mystery shark.

“Their numbers are down for sure,” he said. “They are federally protected, but it takes a great white up to 30 years to be sexually mature. For instance, a redfish can produce millions of eggs in a few years, but with great whites, it takes a very long time for the population to increase.”

What is the reason behind all the recent shark attacks?

“Those aren’t really great white attacks,” said Moore. “It’s normal for coastal sharks, black tips, bull sharks to hang around our beaches. The more people that go to the beach, the odds increase of someone getting bit by a shark.”

The Museum of the Gulf Coast (700 Procter St.) in Port Arthur is hosting a Shark Camp on June 16-18, 20, from 10 a.m. to noon daily. Each day features hands-on activities like Bull Sharks of Sabine Lake (June 16), Conservation and Great Whites (June 17), All About Oceans (June 18) and Swim with Sharks Green Screen Fun.

Cost is $10 per child for the entire week. To register, call (409) 982-7000.

“This event it’s centered on education and hopefully some inspiration for people,” said Moore. “Two of those days I will be teaching kids about bull sharks and the next day about great whites in the Gulf of Mexico.

“I also want people to start thinking about our Gulf as a vibrant, important water body that has a lot of amazing biodiversity, and that’s an exciting part of that. We get to educate kids about it at the museum. We have a lot of cool stuff we’re have planned.”

Moore remembers standing with his father on a Galveston pier and asking, “Dad, do you think they are any great whites out here?” His response – “Maybe son, maybe.” Moore now has the answer his own question asked years ago – “Yes, there are great whites in the Gulf.”

Chad Cooper is the Entertainment Editor. Contact cooper@theexaminer.com