No one was hurt in a shark sighting off the coast of Biddeford Thursday afternoon, but one local official said reports of sharks in the waters off local beaches are happening more often.

On July 20 at about 1 p.m., a lifeguard at Middle Beach in Biddeford spotted a fin in the water, according to Carl Walsh, Biddeford’s recreation director. 

Walsh said two other lifeguards confirmed the sighting, and the waters were cleared for about an hour. No one was hurt, he said.

“People were back in the water by two o’clock,” he said.

Walsh said the city does not have detailed records of shark sightings, but said he has been with the department for 27 years, and in the past five to six years, “It’s happened more often.”

Walsh said in recent years the city doesn’t have more than one or two sightings, if any at all, but that’s more than the city used to see.

The sighting comes three years after Maine experienced its first recorded fatal shark encounter. Julie Dimperio Holowach was swimming off Harpswell was killed in July 2020 by a great white shark.

In 2021, the Maine Department of Marine Resources has been monitoring white shark activity off Maine’s coast. 

The department reported 44 confirmed sightings for 2022.

As to why the sightings are happening, Dr. Walt Golet, assistant professor at the University of Maine and leader of the Pelagic Fisheries Lab at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, said warmer waters in the Gulf of Maine may not be to blame.

“While we wouldn't rule it out, we don’t have any scientific evidence at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute to support a claim that links the presence of white sharks to climate change,” he said.

More likely, Golet added, was that new regulations to protect sharks and seals, their principal food source, have led to both species’ populations increasing.

“This in turn increases the likelihood of observing white sharks in Maine waters as these animals begin to re-occupy larger areas of their historical ranges, which includes the Gulf of Maine," he said.