Red Triangle (Pacific Ocean)
The Red Triangle is the colloquial name of a roughly triangle-shaped region off the coast of northern California, extending from Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco, out slightly beyond the Farallon Islands, and down to the Big Sur region, south of Monterey. The area has a very large population of marine mammals, such as elephant seals, harbor seals, sea otters and sea lions, which are favored prey of great white sharks.[1] Around thirty-eight percent of recorded great white shark attacks on humans in the United States have occurred within the Red Triangle—eleven percent of the worldwide total.[2] The area encompasses the beaches of the heavily populated San Francisco Bay Area, and many people enjoy surfing, windsurfing, swimming and diving in these waters.[3]
Geography
The Red Triangle is defined by its vertices: the northern vertex is Bodega Bay (Bodega Head), the western vertex is the Farallones, and the southern vertex is Big Sur or Monterey Bay.[4] The movement of sharks and other large marine animals in this region were studied starting in 1999 under the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) program, an international collaboration.[5] TOPP found that white sharks in the Red Triangle are genetically distinct from others in the Pacific Ocean, such as those found off South Africa and Australia.[5]
Schedule
The population of northeastern Pacific white sharks tend to congregate along the north/central California coast each fall, then leave the area in December for the deep ocean approximately halfway between California and Hawaii. This region is referred to by TOPP as the White Shark Café.[5] Female whites tend to visit the Gulf of the Farallones every two years, which researchers believe to be based on the shark reproductive cycle.[4] Adult Great White Sharks are no longer present in the Red Triangle during the month of May, and start to return in August.[6]
| Year | Location |
| 1851 | San Francisco Bay (or San Leandro Bay), near cannery, Alameda County |
| 1899 | Monterey Bay, Monterey County |
| 1926 | San Francisco Bay (or San Leandro Bay), near cannery, Alameda County |
| 1952 | Pacific Grove, Monterey Bay, Monterey County |
| 1955 | Pacific Grove, Monterey County |
| 1956 | Van Ness Municipal Pier, San Francisco |
| 1959 | Baker Beach, San Francisco County |
| 1959 | Dillon Beach, Marin County |
| 1959 | Bodega Rock, Sonoma County |
| 1960 | Tomales Point, Marin County |
| 1960 | Aptos, Santa Cruz County |
| 1961 | Tomales Point, Marin County |
| 1961 | Portuguese Beach at mouth of Salmon Creek, Sonoma County |
| 1962 | Farallon Islands |
| 1962 | 12' tank at Steinhart Aquarium, San Francisco |
| 1962 | San Francisco Bay |
| 1962 | San Francisco Bay |
| 1962 | San Francisco Bay |
| 1962 | Farallon Islands |
| 1963 | San Mateo County |
| 1964 | Southeast Farallon Island |
| 1965 | Pacifica, San Mateo County |
| 1966 | Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, Monterey County |
| 1968 | Bodega Rock, Sonoma County |
| 1969 | Pigeon Point, San Mateo County |
| 1969 | Bird Rock, Tomales Point, near Marin County / Sonoma County border |
| 1971 | Sea Ranch, Sonoma County |
| 1972 | Bird Rock, near Tomales Point, Marin County |
| 1972 | Point Sur, Monterey County |
| 1974 | Tomales Point, Marin County |
| 1974 | San Gregorio Beach, San Mateo County |
| 1974 | Franklin Point, San Mateo County |
| 1974 | Franklin Point, San Mateo County |
| 1974 | North Farallon Island, Farallon Islands |
| 1974 | North of Point Sur, Monterey County |
| 1975 | Farallon Islands |
| 1977 | McClure Beach, near Tomales Point, Marin County |
| 1978 | Pajaro Dunes, Santa Cruz County |
| 1979 | Ano Nuevo Island, San Mateo, County |
| 1981 | South Moss Beach, Spanish Bay, Monterey Peninsula |
| 1982 | Stillwater Cove, Sonoma County |
| 1982 | Monastery Beach, Carmel Bay, Monterey County |
| 1984 | San Francisco |
| 1984 | Pigeon Point, San Mateo County |
| 1984 | Tomales Point, Marin County |
| 1985 | Elephant Rock near Tomales Point, Marin County |
| 1985 | Southeast Farallon Island, Farallon Islands |
| 1986 | Linda Mar Beach, Pedro Point, San Mateo County |
| 1986 | Monastery Beach, Carmel River State Park, Monterey Peninsula, Monterey California |
| 1987 | Tunitas Beach, San Mateo County |
| 1987 | Davenport Light, San Mateo County |
| 1989 | Monterey Bay, Monterey County |
| 1989 | Southeast Farallon Island, Farallon Islands |
| 1990 | Montera Beach, San Mateo County |
| 1990 | Russian Gulch, Jenner, Sonoma County |
| 1990 | Monastery Beach, Carmel Bay, Monterey County |
| 1991 | 8.5 miles south of Ano Nuevo State Reserve, Davenport County |
| 1991 | Horseshoe Reef, Scott Creek, Davenport, Santa Cruz County |
| 1992 | Ano Nuevo, San Mateo County |
| 1993 | Linda Mar Beach, Pedro Point, San Mateo County |
| 1993 | Goat Rock, Bodega Bay, Sonoma County? |
| 1995 | Bluefish Cove, Pt. Lobos State Park, Monterey County |
| 1995 | Carmel, Monterey County |
| 1995 | Davenport Landing, Santa Cruz County |
| 1996 | Bird Rock, Tomales Point |
| 1996 | North Salmon Creek Beach, Sonoma County |
| 1996 | Dillon Beach, Marin County |
| 1996 | Salmon Creek Beach, Sonoma County |
| 1998 | Stinson Beach, Marin County |
| 1999 | North of Pidgeon Point, San Mateo County |
| 1999 | Waddell Reef, Santa Cruz County |
| 2000 | Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, San Mateo County |
| 2002 | Stinson Beach, Marin County |
| 2002 | Salmon Creek, Sonoma County |
| 2004 | Salmon Creek, Sonoma County |
| 2004 | Limantour Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore |
| 2005 | Salmon Beach, Sonoma County |
| 2005 | Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, San Mateo County |
| 2005 | Ocean Beach, San Francisco, San Francisco County |
| 2006 | Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County |
| 2006 | Monterey, Monterey County |
| 2006 | Dillon Beach, Marin County |
| 2007 | Bean Hollow State Beach, San Mateo County |
| 2007 | Marina State Beach, Monterey County |
| 2008 | Dillon Beach, Marin County |
| 2009 | Davenport, Santa Cruz County |
| 2009 | Loch Lomond, Marin County |
| 2010 | Pigeon Point, San Mateo County |
| 2011 | Marina State Beach, Monterey County |
| 2011 | Pigeon Point |
| 2012 | Pleasure Point, Santa Cruz County |
| 2012 | Davenport Landing, Santa Cruz County |
| 2013 | Pacific State , San Mateo County |
| 2013 | Pillar Point, Half-Moon Bay, San Mateo County |
| 2014 | Manresa State Beach, Santa Cruz County |
| 2014 | Franklin Point, San Mateo County |
| 2016 | Capitola, Santa Cruz County |
| 2017 | Monterey Bay |
| 2017 | Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County |
| 2017 | Stillwater Cove, Monterey County |
| 2017 | Drakes Estero, Point Reyes, Marin County |
Figure One: Shark Attack History in the Red Triangle ([7])
References
- www.pbs.org
- "FLMNH Ichthyology Department: 1876-2010 World's Confirmed Unprovoked Attacks by White Sharks". ufl.edu. 24 January 2018.
- "Tracking Great Whites in The Red Triangle". pelagic.org.
- Fimrite, Peter (22 September 2012). "Great white sharks back in Red Triangle". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- "Unveiling the underwater ways of the white shark" (Press release). Stanford University. 15 February 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- "We Curated All of the Best Information About Great White Sharks Swimming in the San Francisco Bay". 28 March 2021.
- "How to search GSAF data". sharkattackfile.net. Retrieved 2021-11-02.