2 great white sharks tagged off the Outer Banks in effort to track migration

Researchers tagged two great white sharks off the Outer Banks this past week — a 435-pound juvenile female they named after an infamous pirate and a young, 430-pound male named after the island near where they met him.

Ocearch, a nonprofit group doing research on large marine animals, including sharks, arrived April 17 off the Outer Banks for “Expedition Northbound,” a mission to track great white migration. The trip continues through May 4.

Early Friday morning, the Ocearch team captured, satellite tagged and released the juvenile female measuring 9 feet, 3 inches and weighing 435 pounds. They named her Anne Bonny, after the notorious female pirate who frequented the waters around Cape Hatteras, near where she was tagged.

“Anne Bonny was a pioneer of her time and we’re excited to see what Anne Bonny the shark will teach our scientists,” Ocearch said in a social media post.

Soon after tagging Anne Bonny, the team was able to capture and tag another great white, a 9-foot-7, 430-pound male.

“We named this shark Ocracoke after Ocracoke Island which is located close to where we met him,” Ocearch posted.

Ocracoke is a subadult, meaning he has not yet reached full maturity.

Ocearch research shows the Atlantic continental shelf waters off the Outer Banks are a winter hot spot for great whites.

“From April to June each year, both male and female sharks can be found in this area in significant numbers, likely taking advantage of the ample food supply to fuel their migration to summer feeding grounds,” the nonprofit said in a news release.

Both sharks should soon start pinging on the popular Ocearch shark tracker app. A ping happens when the shark’s dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water.

Ocearch launched the shark tracker in 2012 with a goal of tagging 100 great whites. Ocracoke was the 91st.

Expedition Northbound is part of a study of the great white of the western North Atlantic. So far the team has collected data for over 24 science projects that “put together the pieces of the life history puzzle of the white shark,” the news release said.

Kari Pugh, kari.pugh@virginiamedia.com