Team previously faced a challenging expedition
Great white shark researchers who set out last month to nail down where and when white sharks mate will have to “chip away” at solving the white shark life history puzzle after facing challenging conditions on the water.
The OCEARCH shark scientists recently embarked on an expedition off the Carolinas in the hopes of collecting the final data to confirm the white shark mating site. From OCEARCH’s tracking data, it’s clear that male and female adult white sharks come together in the southeast U.S. during the late winter before the females head offshore to possibly gestate.
But during the expedition last month, the shark researchers were not able to tag and sample any adult white sharks because of the tumultuous weather and sea conditions.
“That’s fairly typical for this area in March,” OCEARCH Chief Scientist Bob Hueter said. “It’s always a grind there because the area is still coming out of winter, the winds are high, the swells are strong.
“So we’ll have to chip away at it and try to get those last samples that are needed for the scientists,” he added of getting the key data to confirm this part of the life cycle.
Another challenge with tagging off the Carolinas is the white sharks are more spread out in the south comparaed to along Cape Cod, where the sharks during the summer aggregate in the hundreds to feast on seals.
“The conditions are very different,” Hueter said. “Along Massachusetts, we can put at least one of the sharks on our deck every day.”
OCEARCH’s Western North Atlantic White Shark study includes a full health assessment of each shark, microbiological studies, movement, temperature and depth studies through the use of different tags and more.
In order to confirm this region as a white shark mating site, researchers will have to collect blood samples to measure reproductive hormone levels. Also, the scientists will need to assess ultrasound images of the ovary and testes and semen samples.
Hueter said, “The mating area is an absolutely critical part of their life cycle and key for rebuilding the white shark population.”