Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movies comes the return of Jaws!
To celebrate the blockbuster’s 50th anniversary, Spielberg’s classic thriller returns to select theaters Labor Day weekend.
That same weekend, thousands of Rhode Islanders are planning to head to the beach.
Leo Bourque of Gloucester, Mass., has had a serious case of the jitters ever since he first saw that movie.
“When I go out to the water, the first thing I do is look for any fins,” he said.
This summer has brought no shortage of Rhode Island shark scares. In July, lifeguards briefly evacuated Third Beach in Middletown because of an unconfirmed fin sighting. In August, lifeguards took similar precautions at East Beach in Charlestown.
(Out of an abundance of caution, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management requires all swimmers to take at least a one-hour break at all state beaches after an actual or suspected sighting, to give authorities time to investigate.)
Great white sharks gather in growing numbers each year off Cape Cod. The federal Marine Mammal Protection Act has been so successful in bringing back the seal population there that the seals’ biggest predators have returned, too.
Over a recent 4-year period, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has documented more than 800 individual great white sharks in the water between Chatham and Provincetown.
Those sharks swim right past Rhode Island to get to their hunting ground.
Earlier this month, the Atlantic Shark Institute tagged 2 juvenile great whites in the water between Narragansett and Watch Hill.
“They’re there,” said Dr. Brad Wetherbee, a marine biologist at the University of Rhode Island who specializes in sharks. “But the odds of being eaten by a shark are really low.”
He added, “If the sharks wanted to eat us, we would be easy prey.”
In the past 200 years, there have been only 2 fatal shark attacks documented in Rhode Island. The most recent one occurred in 1895.
Rhode Island’s first and only shark history museum, the Living Shark Museum in Westerly, displays an array of mandibles and memorabilia, including founder Keith Cowley’s impressive collection of Jaws-related merchandise.
“They’re not puppy dogs,” Cowley said of great whites. “They are creatures to be respected.”
So, as you head out to the beach this weekend, the consensus seems to be: Rhode Island beaches are a pretty safe space to swim.
“You’re more likely to die being struck by a car as you walk across to the beach from the parking lot,” said URI’s Wetherbee.
“I’ve often told people that like when you buy a lottery ticket you wouldn’t go out and buy a house, thinking you’re going to win. The odds of being eaten by a shark are pretty similar.”
