Cape Cod, Massachusetts-based marine scientists successfully attached a camera tag to a great white shark in waters off the southeastern portion of the U.S. for just the second time.
Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC) scientist Megan Winton and charter boat Capt. Chip Michalove of Outcast Sportfishing were both working off the coast of South Carolina, when they caught a 9-foot female white shark and attached a camera tag to her dorsal fin. The duo also attached a GPS tag onto the fin, which will transmit the shark’s location in real time for about a year, whenever it breaks the surface of the water.
AWSC said in a press release that it recently updated its “White Shark Catalog” for 2024, which is available for the public to view and includes “the most comprehensive source of photos and information on individual white sharks that have been identified along the Atlantic Coast.”
The organization has been able to grow its catalog to contain over 700 white sharks all documented along the northwestern portion of the Atlantic Ocean.
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The most recent shark to be tagged with a camera and GPS locator will eventually be available for tracking on the organization’s app, Sharktivity.
The camera clamped onto the shark will give researchers a “shark’s-eye” view while also recording data on the shark’s environment and movements with the help of sensors, 10 times per second.
The device will completely detach itself from the shark after about a day, before resurfacing and transmitting its location for researchers to retrieve the camera.
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Researchers plan to use the data to learn why white sharks return to the waters off the Carolinas during the winter and spring months.
“We know from historical records and tagging data collected over the past 15 years that the southeast U.S. is an important overwintering habitat for white sharks,” Winton said. “But we don’t know that much about how they use the area exactly, or what it is they’re doing when they’re there.”
Michalove named the shark he and Winton tagged, Jason Flack, in honor of a Hilton Head, South Carolina, local who died in a hit-and-run crash in February.
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The duo also worked together and tagged the great white shark known as LeeBeth, which gained international attention after she was tracked the furthest west in the Gulf of Mexico than any previously tracked white shark.
AWSC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the latest shark to be tagged.
Still, being able to capture a great white shark and place research technology on it is something the charter captain never thought he would be able to do, all in the name of science.
“I never thought I’d be holding the dorsal fin of a great white shark and applying this type of technology,” Michalove said. “I’ve been intrigued with these sharks my whole life, and what we’ve learned from their paths has been fascinating.”
