Project Shark scar
Project Shark Scar is a collaborative effort between researchers and graduate, undergraduate, and high school students throughout the Monterey and San Francisco Bay areas.
Undergraduate and high school students review individual scars from field videos and submit their vote on the scars' cause, severity, and more. We designed an algorithm to determine a consensus opinion on each scar by weighing student votes along with expert review to find the most likely cause. Using these consensus scar data, we can develop a story of the individual's life and answer our research question.
We use nearly 20 years of encounter videos from our collaborators at CSUMB, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Oregon State University, California White Shark Project, Stanford University, and citizen scientists. Project Shark Scar was created by Kaitlyn Yee for her Master's thesis.
Undergraduate and high school students review individual scars from field videos and submit their vote on the scars' cause, severity, and more. We designed an algorithm to determine a consensus opinion on each scar by weighing student votes along with expert review to find the most likely cause. Using these consensus scar data, we can develop a story of the individual's life and answer our research question.
We use nearly 20 years of encounter videos from our collaborators at CSUMB, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Oregon State University, California White Shark Project, Stanford University, and citizen scientists. Project Shark Scar was created by Kaitlyn Yee for her Master's thesis.
Thermal Habitat selection
Since the 2014 juvenile White Sharks have begun appearing every year in Monterey Bay between March and August. This area is at the cold edge of their habitat and we believe the juveniles prefer and even search for warmer pockets of water to help regulate their internal body temperature.
This project has many subprojects within it to help answer our questions...
1. Drone-based Monitoring
2. Dorsal Fin IDs
3. Tagging
a) Acoustic Transmitters (stays on sharks for ~5 years)
b) Dorsal-Fin-Clamp Tags (Accelerometers, Depth, Temperature) (stays on sharks for 1-7 days)
4. Satellite Data related to shark counts
5. Passive Acoustic Monitoring
Our main study site is Soquel Cove, near Santa Cruz, CA, aptly nicknamed 'Shark-Park'. We also monitor Marina State Beach, on the southern end of the Bay.
This project has many subprojects within it to help answer our questions...
1. Drone-based Monitoring
2. Dorsal Fin IDs
3. Tagging
a) Acoustic Transmitters (stays on sharks for ~5 years)
b) Dorsal-Fin-Clamp Tags (Accelerometers, Depth, Temperature) (stays on sharks for 1-7 days)
4. Satellite Data related to shark counts
5. Passive Acoustic Monitoring
Our main study site is Soquel Cove, near Santa Cruz, CA, aptly nicknamed 'Shark-Park'. We also monitor Marina State Beach, on the southern end of the Bay.
Dorsal fin Mark-Recapture
Mark-recapture studies compare the number of re-sighted individuals to the number of new individuals in a given time to determine the total population.
Every white shark has a unique pattern of notches on its dorsal fin, which can be used to identify the individual from a simple photograph. To date, we have identified approximately 60% of all white sharks within the Central California population.
This project is being done with a number of collaborators at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, OSU's Big Fish Lab, California White Shark Project, Stanford University, and citizen scientists.
Passive acoustic monitoring
To track spatial movements, we use a series of acoustic receiver stations across Central California, which listen for the acoustic transmitters that we put onto our sharks. These receivers are attached to moorings that contain a variety of sensors that record environmental conditions, which we can use to help draw conclusions for possible causality of shark presence vs. absence.