The 12-foot great white shark named Sydney has been pinged offshore near the Space Coast. The shark was spotted on Canaveral National Seashore at 11:25 a.m. on Nov. 13, two months after the 12-foot, 2-inch-long great white shark was tagged by the shark advocacy group, Ocearch.  This the first time in many months that a great white shark has surfaced off of Space Coast.  

“I don’t know what to say,” Lillain Altman (9) said. “Sharks like that are dangerous. Swimmers will get eaten.”

A week before “the ping” the shark was spotted twice in the morning off Daytona Beach. 

Sydney weighs in at around 1,124 pounds.

“I mean it helps our ecosystem and keeps other populations down.” Altman said. “They’re apex predators.”

Last year, Ocearch researchers tagged six great white sharks from Nova Scotia to track where they go and what they do. Research showed all six sharks headed toward the Florida coastline during winter months. Only five of the sharks migrated back to Nova Scotia. 

“They’re great for the ecosystem because they are apex predators,” said teacher Paula Ladd “but not if you’re a swimmer.”

Since 1882, Brevard County has had the second largest number of shark attacks in the United States with with 147. Volusia County leads the nation with 303 attacks in that time frame. The last recorded sharked fatality occurred in 1958.

By Jada Toland