The increased presence of great white sharks off Cape Cod led Wellfleet residents to hold a meeting on Thursday night that resembled a scene right out of Jaws.
Gathering in a local elementary school gymnasium to discuss solutions, about 300 area residents spoke in front of a panel of local officials, researchers, and shark experts.
Held on the heels of 26-year-old Arthur Medici being killed in the state’s first fatal shark attack in more than 80 years, the meeting allowed residents to have a chance to address the 13-person panel one by one.
“They’re eating our fish, now they’re eating our children,” local Gail Sluis said during a brief speech. “No sharks or seals are worth a young man’s life – they’re just not.”
Suggestions for reducing the impact of sharks ranged from devising a birth control system to decrease the seal population to hiring more lifeguards to improving cell phone service in the area to aid rescue efforts.
“People want to see us do something – anything,” said Wellfleet town administrator Dan Hoort. “Government can work really slow sometimes. This is not the time for the government to work slow.”
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