If you live on the coast, you care about sharks.

Not to say that people not living on the coast don't care about sharks - I'm just saying the majority of people going to beaches probably have had the thought, "Are there sharks here?"

The obvious answer is yes.

Just last year, a whale breached the water in Portsmouth, NH, crushing a boat and crew members on board. So, obviously, there are sharks, too. It is the ocean, after all.

What kind of sharks are there along Maine beaches: Ogunquit, Kennebunk, Wells?

Great whites, that is for sure.

According to a Portland Press Herald article, from 2012 - 2023, 107 white sharks were documented less than half a mile off the shore of some of the most popular beaches in New England: Ogunquit, Kennebunk, and Wells.

What is even scarier is that they were in less than 65 feet of water. So they were not too far off the shore.

White sharks do not spend much time lurking in our waters. Instead, they use the coast as a path for traveling from Nova Scotia to Cape Cod, where they spend the majority of their time.

Most white sharks only spend about 15 minutes around our shores.

So, they are out there...for sure...but they do not spend much time.