Shark Tagging and BRUV Deployment Field Course with Shark Docs

Shark Docs, an organization formed by Dr. Chris Malinowski and Dr. Brendan Talwar, is leading field courses in scientific research and conservation education on Florida ecosystems, including shark populations, reef fish ecology, and sea turtle biology. During our courses, we study local shark populations, collecting data on species abundance and various size measurements, we take tissue samples that aid in the understanding of animal health and heavy metal and other toxicant concentrations, prior to tagging and releasing. We also expose participants to marine animals in their natural environment, through guided shark snorkels, nesting sea turtles during beach surveys, and reef surveys. The full scope of these courses is to provide tools to participants who want to pursue careers in conservation and/or research, and to excite them about our incredible local ecosystems.

Shark Docs are collecting data, using various fishing techniques (e.g., drum lines, hand lines) and camera surveys (REEF citizen science SMILE cameras, and BRUVs). The SMILE cameras provide footage of sharks and fish, along with parallel lasers to record the identity and size of target species. This is part of a larger citizen science project with our partners at REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation). We simultaneously provide reef fish identification curriculum, and facilitate participants becoming REEF surveyors, who can then upload data into a citizen science global database. Our work with BRUVs (baited remote underwater video) facilitates, along with our catch data, a long-term database on local shark and fish populations. Samples collected from sharks are used in our toxicology and health studies, creating baselines for what toxicants (e.g., mercury, arsenic, lead) bioaccumulate in a diverse set of species to be used in studies that track spatial and temporal concentrations of these toxic chemicals at the top of the food chain. In this way, sharks are sentinels of the environment and provide biomarkers for aquatic pollution. One of the larger goals of our research is to create a long-term database not only of species abundance and diversity, but of toxicant concentrations. This is especially useful when any major impacts, like storms or dredging, effect population health. Baseline data then allows us to track changes in the populations.