Shark tagging expedition gives girls a chance to be scientists
Genesis Jackson’s first encounter with a shark was not the least bit scary. She has never believed the shark stereotype that portrays them as the bloodthirsty man-eaters of the sea.
“Wow, that was so cool!” said Jackson, 13, bouncing on the balls of her feet after completing her task of cutting a tiny clip from the dorsal fin of a 5-foot blacktip shark. “I got to touch a wild shark! I pet her one way and she was smooth and slippery and the other way was sharp and sandpapery.”
Frida Lange, 10, had her own description of the shark’s skin and anatomy.
“The top was buttery,” said Lange, who measured the shark’s girth. “Under the armpit was bumpy.”
Neela Barberousse’s job was to tag the shark, or insert an ID number under the dorsal fin, so when the shark is caught again, it’s possible to compare data on size, health and location.
“I got nervous. I thought I would hurt her,” said Barberousse, 12, who was reassured tagging, clipping and poking don’t bother sharks. They do not have the same emotional reaction to pain as humans. “It was like pushing a needle into really, really thick skin.”
The three girls, along with nine others, assisted in the catch and release of six sharks during a day-long Biscayne Bay expedition with students and scientists from the University of Miami’s Shark Research and Conservation Program and the Females In Natural Sciences (FINS) initiative.
The goal of the FINS trips is to give girls a hands-on marine science experience with role models who can inspire them to pursue careers in STEM fields where women are underrepre sented. Only 25% of the people working in science and technology jobs and only 11% in engineering jobs are female, according to the National Science Foundation.
Faculty and students at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science want to light the way for girls who might feel intimidated by male-dominated professions.
“The most magical part is interacting with the girls and seeing them view my students as heroes,” said Catherine Macdonald, director of the Shark Research and Conservation Program. “I didn’t have those mentors as a kid so it’s important for me to be one.”
Macdonald, chief shark whisperer and wrangler, showed the girls the physical demands on a scientist as she reeled in sharks on drum lines set with barracuda bait, maneuvered them onto a platform at the stern of the boat and held them down during the 5 to 7 minutes required to take measurements, check for parasites, collect blood samples from the caudal vein at the base of the tail, clip and tag and, on two pregnant sharks, conduct an ultrasound scan of both uteruses. Yes, sharks have two.
The most challenging catch of the day was an ample 6-foot nurse shark that Macdonald estimated to weigh 200 pounds. Macdonald had to use her whole body to pin down the squirming shark. Nurse sharks, which resemble giant catfish, do not need to move to breathe so they tend to lounge on the bottom and don’t like to be disturbed.
“Nurse sharks are always mad and give us the most trouble,” she said. “When we pull them up to the platform you may hear them grunting.”
Macdonald emphasized the conservation aspect of her job to the girls. Sharks are the second most threatened group of vertebrates, behind amphibians, with some of the 500 species, including hammerheads, classified as Critically Endangered.
Overfishing and overheated waters have decimated shark populations.
“Sharks are 420 million years old – older than trees, older than the North Star,” Macdonald said. “Our research is more important than ever.”
When an 8-foot tiger shark was reeled to the surface in fighting mode, the girls, aged 10 to 17, let out a stream of “oohs” and “aahs” upon seeing the striped pattern made by the shark’s pigmented dermal denticles, which are the hard, tooth-like scales that enable sharks to reduce drag and swim fast and quietly.
Once on the platform, the tiger shark regurgitated feathers. They’re not picky and will eat birds and turtles.
The shark can also regurgitate its entire stomach to empty it, and then swallow it back down its throat.
Kaylin Anderson, 17, said she was “super excited” to measure the tiger from nose to tail. She wants to study zoology or marine biology, and works parttime at a nature center. Her favorite type of shark is a thresher shark.
“They have super long tails and use them to slap a school of fish and separate them,” she said. “They have the cutest little face.”
Amani Webber-Schultz talked to the girls about her area of study – fluid dynamics and how it affects sharks’ keen sense of smell.
“I’m looking at their nostrils and the sensitive tissue inside,” she said. “They rely on their highly-developed sense of smell every second when they are hunting or navigating.”
Webber-Schultz is co-founder of Minorities In Shark Science, organized by her and three other Black shark researchers.
"It’s hard when you are the only Black person in your marine biology classes, feeling alone and questioning whether to pursue this career. You’re in a white male-dominated field, caught in the double whammy of sexism and racism,” she said. “We wanted to create a supportive community for young scientists and provide them with funding for research trips and conferences.”
“It makes me feel fulfilled when I go on these trips and a girl sees us and says, ‘I can do that, too.’ ”
The sixth shark to undergo a workup is a small male blacknose, characterized by a dark spot on the tip of a long snout.
“This is my dream,” said Mia Levine, 17, who is president of her school’s marine biology club. She hopes to study at the Rosenstiel School. “... I wasn’t sure about science because I was horrendous at math until I learned it’s OK to ask for help. Still, people make jokes about what is considered a ‘man’s job.’ Subconsciously that can get to you. You have to believe you can be whatever you want to be.”
Several of the girls applied for the trip through Surf Skate Science, a mobile education program founded by Toni Frallicciardi and her husband after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17. When students were grieving they’d show up at the Frallicciardis’ skate park, and “we started teaching them the science behind skateboarding and take them to beach and teach them the physics of surfing,” she said.
She recalled how she was one of only two females in her ocean engineering classes at Florida Tech.
“These girls have to participate in marine science in order to gain the confidence to pursue it. Here they are practicing math as a tool and not studying it in a book,” she said. “It’s a game changer.”
THE MOST MAGICAL PART IS INTERACTING WITH THE GIRLS AND SEEING THEM VIEW MY STUDENTS AS HEROES. Catherine Macdonald, director of the University of Miami’s Shark Research and Conservation Program