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Researchers Get Up Close And Personal With Great White Sharks

BOSTON (CBS) - Local researchers are getting up close and personal with great white sharks to protect swimmers.

"I still like her, I hope she comes back," says Greg Skomal. "You know we'll be able to tell because we'll have a tether on her."

He's talking about Curley, a massive great white shark he tagged last summer.

Skomal has deployed 10 sound receivers from Chatham to Truro, and tagged three great whites with small transmitters, so they know exactly where and when the massive sharks approach the shore.

WBZ-TV's Bill Shields reports

Skomal says, "Ultimately what you hope to get with these kinds of data is some kind of pattern."

Skomal went into a shark cage and got up close and personal with Curley, the massive 18-foot shark. The great white ended up on top of his shark cage.

Skomal's research has shown his tagged sharks have traveled from Chatham in the summer, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico in the winter.

Now, they're back near the Cape, likely, for the seals.

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