Gregory Skomal is used to studying sharks as Massachusetts’ senior marine fisheries biologist, and he hunted the cold-blooded creatures on the first season of NBC Sports Network’s “Shark Hunters.” But on Monday, the tables are turned: As part of “Jaws Strikes Back,” airing at 9 p.m. during Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, which kicks off Sunday, his team sent an underwater drone on the trail of great whites — and it becomes the one who is hunted. “The sharks actually turn on the drone and attack it,” he says. “It’s the first deep-water footage of an attack of a shark on anything.” But you don’t need a drone, or even a boat, to spot the beasts right here in New York. This is Skomal’s Shark Week New York.
Queens-bound N train, Union Square station
Uihlein’s Marina and Boat Rental, 444 W. Lake Drive, Montauk, LI
“Shark fishing for fun originated in Montauk in the ’60s and ’70s. New York is probably home to the pioneers of shark fishing. It was driven by a guy named Frank Mundus, who was the original character that [‘Jaws’ author Peter] Benchley built his character Quint around. He was a seasoned veteran in going out and fishing for sharks. His boat the Cricket II [stored at the marina] was world-famous.”
Off the coast of Rockaway Beach
“Three great whites were spotted here this summer. That’s not unusual — white sharks have been well-documented off Long Island, [and] off New York, for decades. We are seeing some evidence the population is increasing on the East Coast. It’s a response to some conservation measures that have been put in place. We may indeed be seeing more of them in the future.”
Bay Shore Marina, end of South Clinton Avenue, Bay Shore, LI
“There’s [an annual mako] tournament in Bay Shore — it started in 1961. It’s through shark tournaments and shark fishing that most of the sharks off the East Coast have been tagged. [Competitors] use the technique that’s been used for decades: They chum the waters for sharks, just like in the movie ‘Jaws.’ They put out ground-up bits of fish and chunks of fish and create what’s called a ‘chum slick.’ Sharks encounter that slick and then work [their] way toward the source, which is the boat. Fishermen put out baits on big-game fishing tackle.”
The New York Aquarium, 602 Surf Ave., at West 8th Street, Coney Island
“The New York Aquarium has been around for a long, long time and is well established in keeping sharks in captivity, [and] it’s large, so it can hold bigger sharks. Some come from other parts of the US, some may come from local areas, maybe off New Jersey, perhaps off Rhode Island and Massachusetts. It’s a great place to go.”