Local researchers are working to save the lives of sharks.
Earlier this month, a group of researchers from Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, and the non-profit OCEARCH, went on an expedition in the Gulf of Mexico to tag different species of sharks.
The group started in Corpus Christie, Texas and finished up in Morgan City, Louisiana.
“It’s remarkable to see what we still don’t understand about sharks and migrations,” said Dr. Heather Marshall, a Researcher, at Mote. “The electronic tags allow us to monitor sharks in real time. We can put a tag on a shark and see how they are moving and how they are associating with different reefs, either artificial or natural. We also can look at international movements between the United States, Mexico and Cuba.”
Dr. Heather Marshall, Mote Postdoctoral Research Fellow, collects a blood sample from a pregnant 8-foot sandbar shark, which will be used for projects by multiple researchers on board the M/V OCEARCH, including Dr. Marshall's own research on stress in caught-and-released sharks.
In addition to tagging the sharks to see how they live and where they end up, Dr. Marshall collected blood samples from them.
This was done to make sure the tagging was not jeopardizing their health.
Buddy, a tiger shark, is tagged with a satellite transmitter before swimming back out to sea Nov. 5 during an expedition to tag sharks in the Gulf of Mexico led by OCEARCH, with scientific leaders from Texas A & M University and a Mote Marine Lab scientist participating to collect and study shark blood samples.
Researchers said after anglers catch and release a shark, it is relatively unknown how the animal is affected, how long it takes to recover or if it will survive after release and how survival rates vary with different circumstances and species.
They said this is vital information to assess shark’s vulnerability to being overfished and/or becoming accidental by catch and maintaining healthy shark populations while preserving the top predators that help keep ecosystems in balance.
“For my work, I was able to see these sharks with relatively minimal stress, as they are being tagged, which is what I like to see,” said Dr. Marshall. “Then, we can send the shark on the way and know they are recovering quickly.”
Researchers say this type of work is important because they want these sharks around for everyone to enjoy in the future.
Dr. Marcus Drymon from University of South Alabama and Dr. Heather Marshall of Mote Marine Laboratory prep liquid nitrogen to store shark blood samples.
The public can track four tagged sharks from the expedition at www.ocearch.org.
Look for “Joseph” the 10-foot-6 tiger shark, “Buddy” the 7-foot-10 hammerhead, “Reveille” the 8-foot scalloped hammerhead and “Finley” the 10-foot tiger shark.