Junior SeaKeepers 2025-26 Graduation Floating Classroom – Shark Tagging with UM SRC

On June 24, 2026, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted 10 of our Junior SeaKeepers for our final floating classroom experience of the 2025-26 cohort, a shark tagging research trip with the University of Miami’s Shark Research and Conservation Program aboard Research Vessel Garvin. We started our day with a boat safety briefing as well as meeting the shark research team led by Dr. Catherine Macdonald and her students, as well as the incredible staff and boat captains. We were lucky enough to have warm water and calm seas, so the team was able to take us offshore in search of larger shark species. Once we arrived, our JSKs were able to assist in the deployment of deepwater drum lines, which utilize larger bait and sit deep in the water as a means to attract the largest sharks for sampling.

Throughout the day, we were extremely lucky to catch six sharks – four nurse sharks, and two great hammerheads! Upon catching each shark, our JSKs and education team split into two groups such that every student could both have the chance to watch up close and assist the research process through participating in key roles like tagging, taking a fin clip genetic sample, size measurements of each shark, and checking for parasites on each animal. In between each catch, our JSKs had the chance to speak with the lab’s student intern team and professional staff, asking questions about the lab’s work, the research process, and even about some very unique scarring we observed on each of the hammerheads caught during the day. We are immensely grateful for all the amazing work that the Shark Research and Conservation Program does, and we cannot thank Dr. Macdonald and the team enough for such a perfect way to send off our 2025-26 JSKs with one last unforgettable field experience!

Photos courtesy of Miles Lubas and the University of Miami Shark Research and Conservation Program.