Shark sightings equal big business in Chatham

The curious scene unfolded a day after authorities banned swimming within 300 feet of the seals, and yesterday afternoon, the harbormaster announced a moratorium on any swimming on east-facing beaches, including popular South Beach, between sunset and sunrise.

Yet Lighthouse Beach was still packed with tourists, many of whom had come hoping to catch a glimpse of the seals - or their predators. The question, “Seen any sharks?’’ could be heard up and down the walkway to the beach.

At one set of the beach’s coin-fed telescopes, Lisa Lindsay, 37, of Westfield, let out a shriek of excitement.

“Oooh, oooh, look! There’s a shark! I see a fin!’’ she said, pointing at a small gray shape bobbing above the water.

Her husband, Gene, 40, and daughters were skeptical, but Lindsay insisted. “Don’t disappoint me,’’ she told her family. “I want to keep my fantasy.’’

Lindsay had recorded all of the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week,’’ she said. When she heard the beaches were being closed because of sharks, she knew she had to come to Chatham to see for herself.

Shark mania has returned to this vacation haven at the height of the vacation season, two summers after great whites began reappearing in local waters, drawn by the resurgent gray seal population. Local officials believe the security measures are necessary.

“If we’re seeing a real frequency of sharks in the locations where people are swimming, then we won’t take a chance,’’ said Dan Tobin, Chatham’s director of parks and recreation.

Although seals are known to bite humans who get too close, the real danger is that a shark looking for prey will mistake a human for a seal and attack, said Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for New England Aquarium.

There have been 35 great white shark sightings off the Cape this summer, though some sharks could have been spotted multiple times, said Reginald Zimmerman, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Though shark sightings have forced town officials to close some beaches each of the last two summers, business owners are far from worried about tourists being scared off.