White sharks are back in Massachusetts waters, and the state wants shore anglers to know the rules before they wade in. With a viral catch-and-release of a great white off Nantucket fresh in everyone's mind, the Division of Marine Fisheries is reminding beach fishermen that the state's shore-based shark regulations are in full effect for the summer.
The Nantucket catch is what put the issue back in the headlines. On June 7, veteran shark angler Elliot Sudal — who has spent more than a decade chasing sandbar sharks and other species from the island's south shore — hooked his first-ever white shark from the beach. The fish, estimated at more than 8.5 feet and around 300 pounds, drew a crowd of stunned onlookers. Sudal released it as fast as he could: white sharks are a prohibited species in U.S. waters and may not be intentionally targeted. (Nantucket itself sits outside the state's shore-fishing prohibition zone.)
Massachusetts wrote those shore-based rules in 2025, after a string of incidents in which anglers apparently targeting white sharks from the beach created public-safety risks for swimmers and surfers — including a confrontation at a Wellfleet beach that alarmed surfers. The Division of Marine Fisheries, working with the Massachusetts Environmental Police, designed the regulations to discourage anglers from going after white sharks where the predators are most likely to be close to people.
The core of the rule is a gear restriction. Inside a defined zone, anglers may not fish from shore with a baited hook whose inside gap exceeds 5/8 inch paired with a wire or metal leader longer than 18 inches — the heavy terminal tackle used to land large sharks. The prohibited area begins at the northernmost point of Plymouth Beach and follows the shoreline around Cape Cod Bay and the Outer Cape, taking in all of Chatham Harbor, Stage Harbor and Monomoy Island. Lighter tackle is still fair game inside the zone for anglers after other species.
One rule applies everywhere, zone or no zone. Using any mechanized, compressed-propulsion or remote-controlled device to deploy bait is banned for all shore-based fishing in the state. That covers drones, bait cannons and remote-control boats — tools that let anglers drop baits far beyond casting range, often right into the water beachgoers are using. Manual methods such as kayaks and kites are still allowed.
The Division of Marine Fisheries also spelled out how to handle a shark that does come to the sand, framing it as much an animal-welfare issue as a safety one. Officials urge anglers to keep the shark in the water, especially its gills; minimize handling and release time rather than stopping for photos; never sit on the animal's back; use a long-handled dehooking tool where possible; and carry wire or bolt cutters to cut the leader or hook quickly if a clean release isn't working.
Enforcement falls to the Environmental Police, and violators can face fines or other penalties. The agency is pointing anglers to its website and social channels for the full regulations and a map of the restricted shoreline before they head out this season — a reminder that as the white-shark population off Massachusetts keeps growing, the rules around fishing for them from the beach are only tightening.