Sharks Off Manhattan Beach Tagged and Released

Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium were tagging sharks and releasing them off the coast of Manhattan Beach Tuesday, said Capt. Kyle Daniels of the Los Angeles County Lifeguards.

A Manhattan Beach resident who spotted the scene said there were two sharks, a seven-footer and four-footer, a boat with a purse sein, a helicopter overhead and a lifeguard on a jet ski from about 12 noon until 1:30 p.m. Daniels confirmed the account.

Daniels said sharks have been seen "consistently enough" in the area's coastal waters "so they're checking them out."

The researchers, believed to be marine biologists, have a permit to tag and release sharks, he said.

Daniels said it was "speculation" that the sharks were great whites, however, Monterey Bay Aquarium's website details its conservation and research efforts on behalf of great whites. It also details juvenile white shark tagging.

Eric Martin of The Roundhouse Aquarium on the Manhattan Beach Pier has previously spotted great whites in the ocean near the pier, cutting the protected species loose from fishermen's lines.