The State House News Service reports Cape legislators invited reporters to a State House briefing about how to keep Cape tourists from being chomped by sharks this summer, or something to that effect, but then banned the reporters who actually showed up, claiming the room was just too small.

Good Morning Gloucester tells us the story of Cisco, a great white that gets around.

Greg Skomal, our resident state shark guy, has named a 15-foot male shark Big Papi.

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy posted this video by state shark expert Greg Skomal of an incident off the beach at Chatham yesterday.

WCVB reports two kayakers taking seal pictures were overturned by a great white shark - which tried taking a bite out of one of their kayaks.

Weymouth Police posted this photo of the water off Weymouth around noon today and report:

The Weymouth Harbormaster and Animal Control Officer responded and searched the area but did not observe anything. Photos and video were shown to experts who could not determine if it was in fact a shark however they could not rule it out. It is possible that it was an ocean sunfish mistaken for a shark which is common occurrence. Ocean sunfish are very large often swim near the surface because they feed mainly on jellyfish. Their protruding dorsal fins are sometimes mistaken for those of sharks. Ocean sunfish are docile and not a danger to swimmers.

We're gonna need a bigger breakwater!

Sure, the chances of you being gobbled by a great white shark are incredibly low, but don't be stupid out there, the Coast Guard says, in a holiday weekend shark advisory for the waters off Massachusetts:

Channel 5 alerts us that at least one swimmer down on the Cape seemed determined to recreate the Jaws poster:

... "[The shark] sensed that swimmer in the water from a quarter of a mile away. And we all know that sharks have these extra-sensory ways of seeking their prey and this was visual proof to me," Breen said. ..

In other menacing news, Channel 5 also reports a rogue manhole cover attacked several cars on Rte. 2 in Lincoln this morning.

Headline: Shark sightings put Cape on alert.

Story: "Year-round residents aren't fazed."

A real newspaper would hire some gruff, squint-eyed sea captain so the reporter could get into a shark cage and go mano-a-finno with the Great Beast. Surely, two-fisted Herald maritime reporter O'Ryan Johnson isn't scared of a little fish, is he?