OCEARCH is back in Lowcountry waters to find great white sharks during its Expedition NAFSA 2020, and University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Dr. Kim Ritchie will lead as Chief Scientist.
According to an article published by OCEARCH, data from the OCEARCH Tracker shows that tagged white sharks of all ages are converging right now off the U.S. Southeast Coast, which OCEARCH and collaborating scientists refer to as the Northwest Atlantic Shared Foraging Area (NASFA).
OCEARCH returned to the region, which extends from Cape Canaveral, Florida to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, for its 37th expedition which started last week, to conduct some of its most advanced research to-date of white sharks’ behavior, biology, health and habitat usage.
“This research expedition is so important because we suspect nearly all white sharks in the Northwest Atlantic utilize this NASFA region during the winter and early spring months,” said Chris Fischer, OCEARCH Founding Chairman and Expedition Leader.
The expedition started in Brunswick, Georgia last week and concludes in Savannah area waters on February 14. Throughout the expedition OCEARCH and collaborating scientists will collect biological samples to support 18 separate research projects led by 31 scientists from 22 institutions.
“This is going to be a very collaborative effort,” says Expedition NASFA 2020 Chief Scientist Dr. Kim Ritchie who is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina at Beaufort.
“We’re going to have scientists with a diverse range of expertise on this ship together. It’s really exciting,” the OCEARCH article said.
2019 Expedition
2019’s expedition to the area resulted in four tagged white sharks including Brunswick, who became the first shark on the OCEARCH Tracker to travel to northern New Brunswick, Canada.
White sharks Lydia and Hilton were both tagged on earlier expeditions in the region and were instrumental in revealing Nova Scotia as an important white shark destination during the fall.
Hilton was caught as OCEARCH returned to Lowcountry waters just off of Hilton Head.
White sharks tagged on this expedition will be added to OCEARCH’s brand new Shark Tracker App, which allows its audiences to follow tagged sharks and other marine animals in near real-time.
The new app is now available for free in both the Apple Store and Google Play for all mobile devices.
