Our Goals For This Project:
- Conduct monthly capture and tagging of sharks in order to determine seasonal patterns in species composition.
- Obtain additional data from local charter and fishing boat captains and educate them on the NOAA/NMFS community tagging program.
- Collect oceanographic data to find relationships between shark species and water parameters.
Donations will go directly to:
- Boat Rental
- Bait
- Equipment
- Lodging
- Transportation
Our Research:
The objectives of this project are to conduct monthly samplings of sharks three miles off of Assateague Beach, VA to determine the seasonal patterns in abundance and species composition. With the help of the Chincoteague Bay Field Station, sampling will be conducted by longlining following procedures set by the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration and sharks over three feet will be tagged. Contacts will be set up with local charter boat captains and fishermen to obtain recapture data and to help educate the public on how to safely handle sharks. We will also be using oceanographic equipment to sample water temperature, salinity, light intensity, and chlorophyll in order to determine correlations between water parameters and shark species.
The data collected from this project will be shared with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service in order to help protect and conserve the shark species in these waters. Shark populations have been on steady decline and without an apex predator like several shark species, the healthy balance and regulation of the oceans will be severely upset. Oceans provide a third of food resources, produce a lot of oxygen, remove manmade carbon dioxide, and have effects on Earth’s temperature and weather. Our data will be used to help develop better systems for conserving these sharks, which will aid in protecting our ocean.
Donations will also help to help five college students to enrich their education through the research process. Not only will be learning about the shark species in the northern Atlantic waters, we will be learning important skills and techniques that we can use to conduct future research and in our careers. Donating to our project will help efforts to preserve our ocean and also promote the education of several college students.