Published July 28, 2010

With as many as five more shark sightings off Chatham — including a Great White that was caught, tagged and released on Tuesday — I’ve updated Hubbub’s summer 2010 shark map.

I have a question for all you fishermen and women out there: Why does the reported length of sharks vary?

I understand that a spotter in a plane has to make an estimate. But in three cases this summer, a shark was actually caught and measured. The Gloucester crew nabbed a Great White of six to seven feet. The Rockport fisherman caught a Thresher shark of seven to eight feet. The catch in Chatham yesterday was 12 to 14 feet. That’s a margin of error of two feet!