On Saturday, July 27, the film Sharkwater screens at 8 p.m. at the Katherine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven. The documentary directed by Rob Stewart, aims to debunk stereotypes of sharks as vicious killers of the sea. Mr. Stewart’s film travels the oceans of the world exploring the lives of sharks, the people seeking to protect them and others who try to exploit and kill them, including shark poachers in Guatemala and marine reserves in Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands.

On the surface it seems like a simple and straightforward equation: more seals equals more great white sharks. The connection, however, is likely far more complicated.

Oak Bluffs voted in favor of catch-and-release shark tournaments, West Tisbury approved a new police station and Edgartown approved two spending projects during annual town elections last week.
Voter turnout was sparse, between nine and 13 per cent, and few races were contested.
Oak Bluffs voters approved a nonbinding referendum that would make shark tournaments in town catch and release only by a margin of 225 to 186.

The annual Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament, which offers prizes for the largest shark caught, is held at the Oak Bluffs harbor every summer.

There is endless fascination about sharks, and the Monster Shark Tournament staged annually every July by the Boston Big Game Fishing Club has long been an attraction for people of all stripes — shark lovers, scientists, protesters and the just plain curious. For two days at the height of summer, Oak Bluffs is transformed as huge crowds pour in to witness the spectacle.

Nelson C. Smith, 87, has had plenty of water pass under his keel. And observed many sharks off his bow. The retired Edgartown charter fishing captain, who has had many jobs on the waterfront, predicts an increase in shark sightings in Vineyard waters. As long as the seal population continues to rise around the Vineyard, Mr. Smith said he believes the seal’s worse predator, the great white shark, will also increase, as it seems to have done around Nantucket and certain areas of Cape Cod, according to recent reports. “More seals are showing up at Muskeget Channel.

The July 30 shark attack at Ballston Beach in Truro has focused national attention on the seasonal occurrence of white sharks in waters close to Cape Cod and Island beaches. White sharks are no strangers to residents here; I certainly won’t forget kayaking with friends to see a female white shark trapped in a coastal pond on Naushon island in September 2004. There seems little doubt that we have witnessed more white sharks in areas frequented by swimmers along the eastern shore of the Cape over the past few years.

A charter fishing trip turned exciting Thursday morning when those aboard came within five feet of what they believed to be a surfacing great white shark.

Buddy Vanderhoop, captain of the charter boat Tomahawk III, was taking his charter customers out for a morning of fishing when they came upon the nearly 20-foot shark about a mile offshore, between Aquinnah and Noman’s Land.

A charter fishing trip turned exciting Thursday morning when those aboard came within five feet of what they believed to be a surfacing great white shark.

Buddy Vanderhoop, captain of the charter boat Tomahawk III, was taking his charter customers out for a morning of fishing when they came upon the nearly-20-foot shark about a mile offshore, between Aquinnah and Noman’s Land.

A live baby great white shark was brought into Menemsha harbor by a
local fishing boat Tuesday morning. And though the fish was only five
feet in length, the fact that it was a great white caused quite a stir.

As the sport-fishing boat Cookie Too backed into the slip in Oak
Bluffs harbor on Saturday evening, nervous chatter rippled through the
onlookers who had congregated around the dock.