BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek July 29, 2019has worked with state scientists to tag more than
160 sharks so their behavior can be studied.
Along with its own shirts and hats, the conser-
vancy sells $40 shark license plates, $500 spon-
sorships for a shark-detecting buoy—even $2,
naming rights to the sharks it tags for research. Its
Sharktivity app, which lets people track sightings
of the fish, has more than 200,000 downloads. For
$5,000 a year, a business can become a sponsor.
The conservancy also runs the shark cruise I
took, a 2 ½-hour tour that leaves twice a day, in part-
nership with the Chatham Bars Inn, a luxury resort.
The $2,500 fee covers a maximum of five people and
includes a $760 donation to the nonprofit, which
supplies a guide and captain.
At the wheel on my trip is Josh Higgins, an
18-year-veteran captain in an epaulet shirt who
once skippered yachts. In pursuit of sharks, he
steers our 28-foot twin-outboard craft in tight cir-
cles. Surprisingly, given the great white’s razor-sharp
teeth, the vessel has inflatable sides, which helps it
sidle up to other boats.
Higgins has heard all the Jaws jokes. “You’re13PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEX GAGNE FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK. DATA: FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce recently
held nine focus groups to gauge the fallout from the
sightings and attacks. Chief Executive Officer Wendy
Northcross says the chamber reached two broad
conclusions: “People are very aware of the sharks,
but it’s not going to keep them away.”
Others, notably surf shops, aren’t so sure. Last
year, board-sports enthusiasts were the victims in
more than half of shark attacks worldwide, accord-
ing to the University of Florida’s International Shark
Attack File. And some Cape Cod residents are debat-
ing the merits of killing sharks and seals vs. erect-
ing nets and other barriers. Experts emphasize that
you’re less likely to die from a shark attack than from
a lightning strike. Although it followed a mauling the
month before, last September’s fatality was the first
in Massachusetts since 1936.
On the Cape, shark commerce is centered
in Chatham, a town of 6,000 about two hours
southeast of Boston. (It’s a one-hour ferry ride and
40-minute drive from Martha’s Vineyard, the island
where Steven Spielberg filmed the 1975 classic Jaws.)
A store called Chatham Whites sells shark-themed
clothing it calls “killer casual apparel” under a sign
that reads “Warning: Shark Fascination.” Founder
Justin Labdon hawks some $50,000 worth a year.
That’s about 5% of his main business, upscale beach
chairs. “We were the first people to jump on the
whole shark situation,” he says.
He now has plenty of company. The shop Yankee
Ingenuity welcomes visitors with a wooden bench
in the shape of a life-size great white. There, Lexi
Williamson, 11, visiting with her grandmother, stares
into a jewelry case. “The shark ones are cute,” she
says, pointing to earrings with blue gemstones.
They’ll complement the purple shark flag hanging
in her room, her father says.
In the era of shark attacks, businesses have to
tread delicately. Earlier this year, the Christmas
Tree Shops unit of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. withdrew
shark-related merchandise from Cape Cod after
some found a kitchen towel it was selling beyond
the pale. “Send More Tourists,” it read. “The Last
Ones Were Delicious.”
North of town, the Atlantic White Shark
Conservancy’s Chatham Shark Center, which takes
a more educational approach, has become a premier
destination. There, in a former outdoor-furniture
store, tourists marvel at a replica of the Jaws great
white, gaze at hammerheads through virtual-reality
glasses, and learn facts about the creatures, which
predate the dinosaurs by hundreds of millions of
years. More than 16,000 people visited the cen-
ter last year, up 60% since 2016, says conservancy
CEO Cynthia Wigren. Founded in 2012, the group Shark souvenirs
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