Tagged great white shark spotted 100 yards away from Texas shore

A tagged great white shark has Chip Michalove amazed. The great white, named LeeBeth, has traveled far, making her way from South Carolina to 100 yards away from the Texas shore. She was tagged in December 2023 and has been spotted near the shores by Brownsville as of Wednesday, February 28, according to Michalove.

Michalove is the captain of Outcast Sport Fishing, a charter fishing company in South Carolina. However, during the winter months, he tries to catch great white sharks in the Atlantic Ocean. He became the first person to catch a great white shark in South Carolina over 10 years ago. Since then, he’s worked with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy to tag the great white sharks he catches.

Out of the about 45 sharks tagged by Michalove, LeeBeth is the first to travel over 2,000 miles since she was first caught on December 8, 2023 off Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. 

“I find it fascinating,” Micalove told MySA. “It’s one thing if a shark pings up and down the East Coast, but when one goes around the Florida Keys and goes all the way to the beaches near South Padre Island, that’s wild. We’re not talking miles. She’s just a couple of 100 yards off the beach.”

Micalove said tagging is important to track the movements and habitats of great white sharks. He believes LeeBeth, who traveled alone, swam far for dinner, like turtles or bottlenose dolphins. 

“It’s been wild watching this,” Michalove said. “I had no idea these sharks were swimming all the way to Mexico.”  

The great white shark is a prohibited species in all U.S. waters and fisheries, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The species are caught occasionally by recreational and commercial fishermen but must be released immediately. It’s not usual for white sharks to be in the Gulf. In the U.S. Atlantic, they range from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. Caribbean, according to NOAA. In the U.S. Pacific, they range from Alaska to California and Hawaii.