Things you want on the deck of your boat when you’re out on the ocean: sunblock, flotation devices, a cooler full of cold beverages, flares, and Great White sharks. Wait, what? Maybe that last one only applies to a specific subset of sea-goers.
Sharks are declining in numbers at a staggering rate, so researchers need to tag and perform tests on these fish so that they can determine the best way to help them. The best way to do this is to catch a shark and bring it onboard the boat for a rapid series of tests and tags. This can be fairly distressing for the shark, so they need to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. The scientists are able to perform a dozen tests in just 15 minutes.
The marine scientists at Ocearch have made an art form out of tagging and bagging the sharks in a process that allows them to run all of their tests at once, but doesn’t cause permanent stress to the shark.
View their process here:
Video via Wired
Want to see where Katharine and all of their sharks have been? Check out the Global Shark Tracker on Ocearch’s website!
