What do you think about tagging Great White Sharks?

[Peter_C]

Thanks, Peter... I wasn't aware of that. Looks like Dr. Domeier realized that damage WAS being done after all. Was this a result of the efforts involved in filming the new series?

Unfortunately I do not have any inside information.

In my opinion Domeier is not out to hurt the sharks on purpose. All of the marine biologists I know love nature and do their best to impact it as little as possible. Unfortunately there is no current technology today to gather the data he is getting without severe draw backs. Hopefully in the future we will see him or another scientist back to tagging sharks and gaining an immense amount of data in the future. They will learn a lot from the sharks already tagged.

 

[drbill]

Certainly Domeier is not trying intentionally to hurt the sharks. Never thought that of him. However there are other great white shark tagging studies, including ones in the Farallons, that do not involve such intrusive methods and are also bringing back similar data.

 

[Peter_C]

Bill, from what I understand the data they are gaining with SPOT is more about long term tracking and the other tags fall off before they could gather enough data to plot paths and depths for a sharks entire journey. We already know they journey far and wide...

The question becomes is the damage done with SPOT worth it and so far the answer points to NO! As technology progresses I am sure we will see a new fan-dangled way to not only track them, but watch the video cam of them devouring everything from squid to pinnipeds.

First step was protecting the Great White, and now that it has been accomplished we can look forward to them being around for another million years...well hopefully. The question is will man still be on the earth?

 

[drbill]

At dinner last night I heard that Domeier and his team have devised a "biodegradable hook." Anyone know anything about that?

 

[OfficetoOcean]

At dinner last night I heard that Domeier and his team have devised a "biodegradable hook." Anyone know anything about that?

All they need to do now is devise a self healing, shattered jaw joint and uncrushable internal shark organs and they'll be good to go!

 

[Thalassamania]

Most of the tagging work was done under the auspices of the Oceanic Gamefish Tagging Program of NMFS (NOAA) that was started by Jack Casey. The sharks were not removed from the water and small dart tags were used.

 

[Zisu]

Gotta agree with Bill, those tags are having an effect on the sharks fins, we saw it last year and will be monitoring again this year. The show was more about ratings than science, that said for the sake of the animals let's see if any of this effort will ultimately save sharks.

 

[icedraco]

Tagging white sharks for research is important. Science knows very little about this species other than that their numbers are in decline along with most other sharks.

Having said that, I strongly disagree with the tactics used on the Nat Geo show "Shark Men". It looks like show business and testosterone masquerading as science.

A radio tag can be speared onto a white shark without even having to hook the fish. Bringing the animal on-board a ship to get blood and sperm samples and to drill screws into its fin to hold a gigantic radio beacon seems intrusive and no legitimate science has yet come from it.

Really arkstorm? No legitimate science has come from their research? Other then Dr. Domeier's research find me something about the sofa. Or what the genders do after mating.

 

[drbill]

Indeed the previous tags used in Domeier's work were of shorter duration and obviously nowhere near as sturdy as the SPOT tags used in "Shark Men." I certainly understand the need for longer-term studies using tags that do not fall off as easily. However, the methods used to affix them in "Shark Men" (and the attitude displayed by some of the "crew" on that show) bothered me greatly. I have heard that Domeier is no longer involved... probably out of desire to maintain his scientific integrity. He may have been the only one with a sincere scientific interest on the show.

 

[vladimir]

A National Geographic crew was in Cocos while I was there, tagging hammerheads, I believe, among other things. (They weren't on my boat.) The tagging I have seen on television (which doesn't include Shark Men) always seems to be fairly intrusive and of dubious value, from the viewpoint of preservation. The lead scientist will often say something like, "We can't protect these majestic creatures if we don't know their migratory habits." But the truth of the matter is, "We can't protect these majestic creatures." On the other hand, I doubt the tagging has a significant deleterious effect on the species, even if some individuals are a little the worse for wear.