www.montereycountynow.com MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 5 831 Sean Van Sommeran is at the wheel of a speed boat in Soquel Cove, a place known as “shark park,” as two young great white sharks circle the vessel. These sharks congregate here each year for the shallower, warm waters and the rocky bottom filled with prey. For many people, this would be a frightening situation, but for Van Sommeran, it’s just another day in the office. Van Sommeran is the director of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, based in Santa Cruz, and he is tired of being called for salacious quotes about great white shark encounters. “People always want to talk about a growing population [of white sharks] and just want me to back up their theories,” he says, rolling his eyes. There is another shark that Van Sommeran desperately wants the public to pay attention to. Basking sharks are the second largest fish in the sea, smaller only than the whale shark. Similarly, they cruise at the surface, mouth agape, gills flaring, as it filters through water to capture krill and the like. Beginning in the 1980s, Van Sommeran began an effort to tag basking sharks in order to learn more about their habits. In the following 40 years he and other scientists were able to tag 83. Like great whites, basking sharks are pelagic, traveling long distances in the open ocean throughout their lives. Unlike white sharks, their population has never shown any signs of rebounding from the decades of overfishing. There have been no documented sightings in Monterey Bay in nearly four years. Van Sommeran himself hasn’t seen a basking shark in Monterey Bay waters for more than 12 years. The most recent documented local sighting is a YouTube video of a slow-swimming basking shark cruising under a boat off of Point Pinos. The video is dated May 14, 2022. Van Sommeran is not happy about the situation. “They’re the most endangered shark in the eastern Pacific,” he says, “and nobody even cares that they’re gone.” It wasn’t always this way. In the 1800s into the mid-1900s, there were large schools of basking sharks all over the bay. “It got so bad they were deemed a danger to navigation and commerce,” Van Sommeran says. In those days it was not uncommon for them to be shot and killed once seen near fishing boats. Due to their size and habit of cruising near the surface, basking sharks became easy targets for humans. Monterey fisheries historian Tim Thomas wrote about the story of fishermen taking out tourists to spear basking sharks. Once the shark is killed and brought alongside the boat, one of the fishermen would climb onto the dead fish and do a dance on its belly. In 1913, Otto Ernest Dolter, a local chef and restaurateur in Monterey, began to take eager visitors out to harpoon the sharks, often employing retired Portuguese whalers to help the guests shoot the harpoon, according to Thomas. In 1930, when the population was first recorded, fishermen reported seeing giant schools of basking sharks with more than 500 in the Monterey Bay. The size of the population supported a fishery each year. The number of sharks would peak in early June and come to a close around September. By the end of the 19th century, the basking shark was prized for its liver oil. But the population declined—along with the price of their liver oil—and fishing operations for the basking shark came to a halt in October 1950. These days, while basking sharks are protected from fishing in waters off of the U.K., Ireland and other areas, they have not been officially named an endangered species in the United States. (The Atlantic population of basking sharks is designated as a “species of concern.”) Van Sommeran’s main goal in his scientific efforts is to convince NOAA and other organizations to create protections for the dwindling populations of basking sharks in the Pacific. Until he can grab the attention of federal officials to help create protections for the once-abundant sharks, he will just keep looking for more of them. “I’m not going to stop until they are designated as an endangered species,” Van Sommeran says. “We still have so much to learn about them and it’s nearly impossible at this rate.” Vanishing Giants How the second-largest fish on the planet all but disappeared from Monterey Bay. By Marvin Green IV “Nobody even cares that they’re gone.” TALES FROM THE AREA CODE SEAN VAN SOMMERAN Curtis Craver roams the waters of the Monterey Bay in an attempt to tag basking sharks. The sharks have not been documented locally in four years. Join us for an informative update from the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center. From the bottom of the ocean to the stars and a new generator too! Find out what's new with FNMOC. Presented by the City of Monterey, the Monterey Bay Defense Alliance, and the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. GET TICKETS! PRESENTED BY THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2026 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM FERRANTE’S AT MONTEREY MARRIOTT TICKETS: $45/MEMBERS • $65/NON-MEMBERS • INCLUDES BREAKFAST QUARTERLY BUSINESS INSIGHTS BREAKFAST Join us for an informative presentation titled “Special Districts, Big Impact”. Enjoy a panel discussion moderated by Richelle Noroyan of the California Special Districts Association with representatives from Castroville Community Services District, ReGen Monterey, Monterey Peninsula Airport District, and Monterey County Mosquito Abatement District.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==