Great White Shark Sighting Shuts Down Popular North Shore Beach

IPSWICH, MA — A popular North Shore beach was shut down to swimming on Tuesday after a rare Great White shark sighting in shallow water off the shore.

While Great White shark warnings have become common on Cape Cod and near the Islands in recent years, they remain exceedingly rare in the much cooler waters off the North Shore of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

But Ipswich police early Tuesday afternoon said they confirmed the sighting off Crane Beach with the shark reportedly swimming in water only 5 to 7 feet deep.

Police said the beach remained closed as of mid-afternoon on Tuesday.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)