(CNN) - The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has tagged two great white sharks off Cape Cod in an area where shark sightings have been reported, state officials said Sunday.

[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/US/09/06/massachusetts.sharks/art.shark.mdmf.jpg caption="A great white shark is tagged Saturday off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Shark sightings closed nearby beaches."]

The first tagging Saturday marked the first time a great white shark had been successfully tagged in the Atlantic Ocean, the division said in a statement. A second shark was tagged Saturday afternoon, officials said.

The taggings took place in the waters near Chatham, Massachusetts, two days after Greg Skomal, shark expert for the Division of Marine Fisheries, reported as many as five large sharks were seen near Monomoy Island, a National Wildlife Refuge off the southern elbow of Cape Cod. The island is about a mile away from Chatham's Lighthouse Beach, a public swimming area.

Chatham's beaches were closed to swimmers after the sightings, Skomal said. CNN affiliate WCVB reported that all of Chatham's east-facing beaches were closed after three sharks came within 75 yards of the coastline.

The beaches will be off-limits to swimmers until the middle of the week, officials told WCVB.

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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/16/mike.coots.surf.art.jpg caption="Mike Coots, who was attacked by a shark while surfing off the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1997, now surfs with a prosthesis after losing his leg in the attack."]

A group of shark attack victims is lobbying Congress this week to protect the very animals that attacked them.

Two of those survivors, Mike Coots and Debbie Salamone, spoke to John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Thursday.

John Roberts: What are your personal experiences in terms of shark attacks? Mike, tell us what happened to you.

Mike Coots: I was bitten by a shark in Hawaii a few years back. And just realizing that they play such an important role in our marine ecosystem. People ask me all the time, “You must be so mad at sharks, you must just hate sharks, do you want to kill sharks?” And stuff like that. I've just come to realize they're out there, they predate the dinosaurs, and we’re in their environment. I have no hatred whatsoever for the animal and feel they really play an important part in our environment.

Roberts: A little more detail on your attack. You were surfing off of Kauai. What happened?

Coots: It was early in the morning in October. I was paddling out with some friends and it was pretty quick. I paddled for a wave. The shark came up from under me and grabbed my leg and did the rag doll thing. It was over quicker than I thought. And it was done. I looked at my leg and my leg was completely gone. Went to the beach and my friend tied a tourniquet, stemmed the bleeding and saved my life. They took me to the hospital. I woke up from surgery, went through rehabilitation and back in the water.

Roberts: What about you Debbie? You were in the Canaveral National Seashore in Florida. What happened?

Debbie Salamone: Right. I was just wading and all of a sudden, a shark came up from behind me and grabbed my foot. There was a bit of a struggle and I was able to get away, but it severed my Achilles tendon and tore my heel loose. So same thing as Mike: rehabilitation. But I’m just as good as new now.

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Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson spoke with CNN's John Roberts on his newest venture to help solve the problem of global climate change.

Editor's note: Ted Danson is an Emmy Award-winning actor, a founding board member of Oceana, the world's largest international organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation, and narrator of a new film, "End of the Line." For more information about Oceana, read here.

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/08/art.ted.danson.oceana.jpg caption= "Ted Danson says a 'closed' sign on a beach led him on a 20-year quest to save the world's oceans."]

By Ted Danson
Special to CNN

(CNN) - Today, Monday, June 8, we recognize the first U.N.-sanctioned World Oceans Day. The event comes after years of pressure from conservation groups and thousands of activists who clamored for everyone to know and understand what's happening in our oceans.

I became an ocean activist in 1987. It was the fifth year of "Cheers" and my family moved into a neighborhood that was on the water, in Santa Monica, California. One day I took my daughters to the beach to go swimming, but it was "closed" and I couldn't answer my daughter's question why.

That's really how it started. That and "Cheers" was paying me a lot of money and I felt I had better be responsible with it. So, I started to get involved.

It turned out in our new neighborhood there was a fight to keep Occidental Petroleum from drilling 60 oil wells on Will Rogers State Beach in Los Angeles. They wanted to slant drill into the Santa Monica Bay. The fight was led by a man named Robert Sulnick and we became great friends and found a way to beat them.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we wanted to continue this work. So Robert Sulnick and I, full of passion and naiveté, started American Oceans Campaign, which ultimately became a part of Oceana. And, here I am, still at it, 20 years later - because our oceans are in trouble.

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Watch: Ted Danson speaks to John Roberts on American Morning