Cory Hawkes and his crew were hauling lobster off the coast of Harpswell on a warm July day when they saw a fin poking through the surface of the water. One fin became a few. And then Hawkes saw it: a shiver of about 10 great white sharks he suspected had been feeding on a carcass on the ocean floor. Hawkes is no stranger to shark encounters: He’s said he’s spotted basking, thresher, blue and mako sharks in his four decades of commercial fishing. This was different. Instead of speeding away, Hawkes and his crew let their boat drift and watched the great whites for about 30 minutes before going back to work. “It brought an awareness to me, a cautiousness. But I was just amazed,” Hawkes said. “If I a see a fin near the surface, I always go and check it out.” Movies like “Jaws” — the 1975 hit starring a villainous (fictional) great white — have fueled a perception that fishermen are at risk while they work with bloody bait and submerge their arms into the water to haul traps and buoys. But experts say fishermen — and swimmers — are largely safe from the apex predators off the Maine coast. Fishermen here seem mostly fascinated by the creatures. “We’re a hearty bunch,” said longtime Down East lobsterman John Drouin. “We actually just stand by for a minute and watch in awe.” GREAT WHITES OFF MAINE’S SHORES Nine white shark sightings have been reported to the Maine Department of Marine Resources so far this year, according to Matthew Davis, a marine scientist at the agency. The latest — which has not yet been confirmed as a great white — was spotted Monday near busy beaches in Scarborough. A month before Hawkes’ encounter, another group of fishermen spotted a shark feasting on a seal near their boat off Boothbay, the Midcoast Villager reported. Great whites are not new to the Gulf of Maine, and compared to hot spots like Cape Cod or Hilton Head, their numbers here remain low, recent research shows. But the population is likely bouncing back because of conservation measures put in place to protect the sharks, which were overfished until the 1990s, as well as seals, a favorite prey species for adult whites. Still, “people are perhaps paying more attention to them than historically,” Davis acknowledged. The number of times people see sharks does not reflect how many are in local waters. The marine resources department uses acoustic technology to keep track of an estimated 350 tagged sharks in New England when they swim nearby — though those counts are dependent on the right conditions falling into place. The department said it has identified 93 individual great white sharks swimming through the Gulf of Maine from mid-2020 through the end of 2024. Researchers detected 12 in 2020; 29 in 2021; 27 in 2022; 29 in 2023; and 19 in 2024. Some returned multiple years. Research has shown that great whites tend to hang around southern and Midcoast Maine — including Phippsburg, Harpswell and Scarborough — where there is a more abundant food supply and increasingly warmer ocean temperatures. The only documented fatal shark attack in Maine happened in 2020. That death motivated the marine resources department to launch its tracking efforts. Davis, who focuses on shark research and activity in Maine, said attacks on humans are extreme outliers. THE REAL DANGERS Many safety issues have crossed lobsterman Drouin’s desk during his time on the state’s Commercial Fishing Safety Council. Concern about shark attacks has not been one of them. “A shark isn’t going to jump out of the water and onto a boat for lobster bait,” Davis, the scientist, said. Other fishermen in the Harpswell area went out looking for the great whites after Hawkes spread the news on social media. “We’re sharing what’s out here in this natural environment,” Drouin said. “I am not nervous of things in the ocean. That’s how most fishermen take it. We know how to respect the ocean and stay clear.” There are, of course, safety measures fishermen know to take. Hawkes and his crew temporarily stopped fishing. No reaching in the water to grab buoys and haul traps until they left the area. And Hawkes didn’t spill any chum in the water — this time. “Years ago, we’d throw the guts right next to the boat to get them to feed on it so we could watch,” Hawkes said with a laugh. Dangerous weather, hazardous waters, vessels sinking, falls overboard and gear injuries are the real dangers commercial fishermen face. Four Mainers have died so far this year while fishing under these circumstances. “Waves are way more on the top of my list than worrying about getting bit by a shark,” Hawkes said. As for Drouin: “I’m way more nervous and afraid of the people making the rules” he said, referring to fishing regulators. “Those are the sharks that scare me.”