An international group of conservation researchers announced Tuesday the launch of the largest and most comprehensive shark surveys around the world.
Dune Ives, senior director of philanthropy at Vulcan Inc., said that the survey will provide a solution for conservationists who constantly look at the same data and information regarding the top predators. She added that a recent report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature suggested that marine researchers do not have the data needed to assess even half of the shark population, Pioneer News reports.
This new project, the Global FinPrint project, is expected to “help inform more effective conservation efforts.” Microsoft cofounder Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc. is investing $4 million into the project. Vulcan Inc. funds a series of scientific initiatives on understanding the human brain, ocean health and space flight, according to Discovery.
The conservationists will put video cameras on the ocean floor and bait sharks. This will aid in getting a count of the species.
Some historical data does exist on shark populations, and some of that data is based on underwater camera work. However, this new research should increase the number of cameras placed in oceans around the globe, according to leading shark researcher of Florida International University Mike Heithaus.
Some specific non-explored areas include the tropical western Atlantic, the Indo-Pacific, Indian Ocean islands and southern and eastern Africa, Heithaus added. “Results from Global FinPrint will provide critical trend analyses and establish baselines in places that have never before been systematically assessed,” Ives said.
Though the survey project will not provide an absolute number, it will give researchers a “relative idea” of the number of sharks in different areas and which areas have “healthy populations,” Heithaus said. Dr. Mark Meekan, AIMS researcher, said that it is unlikely there will be any new species of shark or ray discovered, but the project should “fill in some gaps.”
Demian Chapman of Stony Brook University in New York is leading the international team of researchers. Chapman said that the project will help solve one of the “ocean’s great mysteries: What is happening with fragile marine ecosystems when sharks are removed?”
