Very quickly, the scene on the R\/V Garvin had turned from research to rodeo on the sparkling Biscayne Bay.<\/p>\n
It all started when the drumline grew taut, its thick monofilament stretching from the 55-foot boat into the seafoam-green water. Catherine Macdonald, an environmental scientist and research assistant professor at the University of Miami, worked arm over arm to tug the line closer. Slowly, an eight-foot nurse shark appeared from the depths \u2014 a sepia-brown fish with beady eyes, whisker-like barbels and a puckered mouth for sucking prey from the sea floor.<\/p>\n
It would be the biggest catch of the day. But it refused to yield, stubbornly fighting Macdonald\u2019s attempts to steer it onto an underwater platform on the research vessel\u2019s stern. Before the shark could spit out the bait and flee \u2014 as a would-be catch managed to do earlier on the trip \u2014 another UM researcher lassoed the creature behind its pectoral fins with a hefty cable. The team guided the shark onto the platform.<\/p>\n
FLORIDA\u2019S 8,400 MILES OF COASTLINE are ripe with shark research and shark-focused tourism, which contributes more than $221 million to Florida\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
In a last-ditch escape attempt, the nurse shark writhed in a flash of fins and fury. That\u2019s how Macdonald found herself leaping onto the predator, holding its head in place with a bearhug as it bucked like a bull. Another researcher rushed to help secure the fish, then another, then another. At the fifth aide, the shark surrendered \u2014 the next reluctant participant in the UM Shark Research and Conservation Program that Macdonald directs.<\/p>\n
Sharks first appeared in the fossil record 450 million years ago. (Modern humans, in contrast, entered the scene only 300,000 years ago.) They\u2019ve since survived five major mass extinctions, including the event that wiped out dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The number of known shark species exceeds 500 \u2014 ranging from the largest fish in the world, the 60-foot whale shark, to the smallest shark, the seven-inch dwarf lantern shark, to the longest-living vertebrate, the 250-plus-year-old Greenland shark. Their evolutionary success, adaptation and diversity make them ecological marvels.<\/p>\n
With 8,400 miles of coastline, it\u2019s no mystery why Florida has turned into a hub for shark research. Dozens of species roam the state\u2019s warm waters, creating one of the most diverse shark concentrations in the world. It\u2019s enough for shark-based tourism to contribute more than $221 million and 3,700-plus jobs to Florida\u2019s economy, according to a 2017 study by nonprofit Oceana. The year-round abundance also gives scientists ample opportunities to study the predators in their natural habitats. The resulting studies \u2014 which have proliferated within Florida institutions over the last decade \u2014 lend clues about our oceans as well as seemingly distant industries, from health care to STEM education.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s mysterious to me that more people aren\u2019t interested in sharks. Just really fascinating life forms. Persistence is their middle name. How have they managed to last for very long?\u201d asks Gavin Naylor, director and curator of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History. \u201cThey\u2019ve got some kind of tricks, and I think that we\u2019d like to find out what those clever tricks are.\u201d<\/p>\n
CURRENTS AND CLUES<\/p>\n
The eight-foot nurse shark was one of five sharks Macdonald\u2019s team landed that day. The smallest catch, a full-grown bonnethead shark, only stretched 31 inches.<\/p>\n
The researchers led each finned patient through a quick workup. Syringes sucked blood samples to monitor stress, diet and hormones. Tape measurers ran the length and girth of each animal. Mature females received an ultrasound. Vigilant eyes searched for parasites. Careful hands collected tiny tissue samples for genetic testing. The last step: securing an identification tag on each shark\u2019s dorsal fin before freeing them back to the bay, their sleek bodies wriggling into the blue unknown.<\/p>\n
There, within marine ecosystems, sharks play vital roles. Many species mark the top of their food chains, regulating prey populations and recycling nutrients. They feed on herbivores that would otherwise chow down on marine plants, which sequester carbon through photosynthesis, preserving important underwater habitats like kelp forests and seagrass meadows. The predators tend to target weak or sick prey, weeding out the feeble and strengthening overall fish populations.<\/p>\n
Ocean health depends on sharks, so it\u2019s important to monitor their populations. That\u2019s where tagging and tracking come into play. Techniques run the gamut.<\/p>\n
The tags used by Macdonald\u2019s team help identify sharks if they\u2019re caught again, allowing researchers to learn about their growth and movement between captures. Specimens in other projects may get satellite or acoustic tags that transmit their locations to scientists ashore. Biologging tags, acting like FitBits, can track shark behaviors like foraging, mating and resting to better understand their ecological roles. There are also camera tags that temporarily attach to sharks\u2019 dorsal fins and, upon retrieval, provide video insights.<\/p>\n
Altogether, Florida tagging initiatives have marked sharks near and far. Some schools focus on sharks in their local waters, like Florida State University\u2019s work among the Big Bend seagrass habitats. Macdonald\u2019s UM lab primarily focuses on sharks in Florida waters. Her team was the first to describe a great hammerhead shark nursery in Biscayne Bay, the only one identified on the East Coast. Other institutions, like Nova Southeastern University, have tagged sharks around the world, from Maryland to Australia to the Galapagos Islands. (The school\u2019s tracked species include the shortfin mako shark, NSU\u2019s mascot.)<\/p>\n
Their findings can be sobering.<\/p>\n
Demian Chapman, a Florida International University adjunct professor and director of the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium\u2019s Center for Shark Research, leads the world\u2019s largest reef shark and ray survey. (Rays and skates are close relatives of sharks and are often researched in concert.) Called Global FinPrint, the project relies on baited remote underwater video systems that monitor more than 400 reefs around the world. Research partners across 58 countries dropped GoPro-like cameras in a reef, pulled them out after an hour, and then counted the sharks and rays captured on the video feed. The snapshots check the pulse of global populations.<\/p>\n
The first phase of Global FinPrint took more than 1,000 volunteers to watch 20,000-plus hours of video footage. The team didn\u2019t detect sharks on 20% of surveyed reefs, signaling depleted reef shark populations in most nations around the world. Other studies show similar declines. A 2021 international analysis showed that, since 1970, the global abundance of oceanic sharks and rays has dropped by 71%, threatening three-quarters of the species with extinction.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not all doom and gloom. FinPrint found several \u201creservoirs of hope\u201d where sharks are still relatively common and could help repopulate other areas if given the chance \u2014 a chance made possible because of shark research.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinPrint is our on-the-ground \u2014 on-the-water \u2014 bottom-up work to achieve conservation, and that\u2019s really critical,\u201d Chapman says. The project\u2019s second phase is now underway, returning to 100 reefs across 30 countries to see how shark populations may have changed and why.<\/p>\n
Any data about sharks helps guide local, state, federal and international policies that better protect the predators and their habitats. One popular conservation measure is a marine protected area, where human activities are restricted to conserve ocean life. Pinpointing shark hotspots can optimize the impact of such protections. Florida waters alone host more than 40 marine protected areas.<\/p>\n
Shark research also helps scientists better understand how other threats \u2014 like habitat loss, poor water quality and climate change \u2014 are affecting species. Many of these hazards originate in our own communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople tend to think about nature as something that\u2019s far away in this pristine place that is untouched by man and that should be protected,\u201d says Julia Wester, who researches social-ecological systems as a UM senior lecturer and directs the school\u2019s ecosystem science and policy undergraduate program. \u201cBut nature is trying to make a go of it right here, right next to us. Our goal is not to make this untouched, but to do our part to be good neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
HOOKED AND HUNTED<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most well-known threat to sharks is the international fin trade.<\/p>\n
Shark fin soup, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine worth upwards of $100 a bowl, rose in popularity in southeast Asia during the late 20th century. Fin values spiked as demand skyrocketed. The international fin trade bloomed in response, giving way to unsustainable and inhumane practices like finning. Fishers would cut the coveted fins off live sharks and throw their bodies back into the sea, where they\u2019d sink to the ocean floor and die. Miami once marked the U.S. gateway for imported shark fins.<\/p>\n
The shark fin trade used to be an unregulated free-for-all until a 2006 NSU study quantified, for the first time, shark mortality within the global industry: Up to 73 million sharks fell victim to the market per year, a number four times higher than previous estimates. Most of the sharks belonged to at-risk species, additional studies found.<\/p>\n
Mahmood Shivji, the paper\u2019s senior author and the director of the NSU Guy Harvey Research Institute & Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center, is a pioneer in using genetics to learn more about the shark fin trade. He collects fin tissue samples and identifies their species based on their DNA. He can also trace samples back to their origin using genetic signatures specific to regional shark populations.<\/p>\n
Mote\u2019s Chapman has also been entrenched in studying the fin trade. Since 2014, his team has monitored Hong Kong\u2019s fin trade every year \u2014 which has long reigned as the global epicenter of the industry. (An FIU colleague developed a PCR test, similar to those used during the COVID-19 pandemic, that helps customs workers discern shark species in fin shipments.) All findings are fed into assessments for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. The international agreement helps manage wildlife trade to prevent extinction, assigning different levels of regulations for at-risk species.<\/p>\n
CITES identifies species that could face extinction without trade controls, and it implements an international permitting system for them. The number of shark and ray species listed under that appendix has risen from seven to more than 150 since Chapman started his work. More than 90% of shark species found in the fin trade are now protected under CITES.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge chunk. It\u2019s a complete sea change,\u201d Chapman says. \u201cThe great thing about CITES is that it actually has teeth by itself. … We are constantly feeding information to (CITES) about this illegal trade of sharks, and that then triggers these actions against the illegal trade.\u201d<\/p>\n
FLORIDA RESEARCHERS ARE studying the international fin trade, which is among the biggest threats to sharks. Shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy, can fetch upwards of $100 a bowl.<\/p>\n
Policy changes around the world are targeting the international fin trade. Finning is now banned in most countries. The U.S. prohibited shark finning in all federal waters in 2000, and a 2022 law further clamped down on the shark fin market by banning fin trade.<\/p>\n
Another threat has come into focus: unsustainable commercial fishing that can entangle and kill sharks \u2014 intentionally and unintentionally. A 2021 study estimated that fishing-related shark deaths have climbed up to 100 million each year. Some cultures, including countries in Latin America and Europe, are churning up demand for shark meat as the fish of their typical cuisines grow scarcer with overfishing. Sharks\u2019 own menus are impacted as their prey populations suffer.<\/p>\n
In a 2017 NSU study on shortfin makos, satellite tags revealed that about a third of the 40 tracked sharks were captured and killed in fisheries \u2014 a mortality rate 10 times higher than previously believed. \u201cWe were very disappointed because it\u2019s an interrupted journey, like you\u2019re messing with our work,\u201d says Shivji, the paper\u2019s senior author. \u201cFor those of us who are in the conservation business, we kind of go, \u2018Jesus, you have no idea what you\u2019re destroying.\u2019\u201d (His findings led to a 2022 U.S. ban on killing shortfin mako sharks.)<\/p>\n
Florida is a growing powerhouse for recreational fishing, which poses another conflict for sharks.<\/p>\n
Instances of depredation, when sharks steal fish off lines, have increased. A February study from Florida Atlantic University found 43% of surveyed anglers experienced depredation, the probability increasing to 60% due to regional and seasonal variations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sympathetic, because those inconveniences can be really frustrating. But at the same time, inconvenience should not be used as an ecological metric,\u201d says John Hlavin, a UM Ph.D. student in Macdonald\u2019s lab studying shark diets. \u201cWe need to come up with a way to forward both recreational fishers\u2019 interests and promote ecosystem integrity. We have to find a balance between those two things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some anglers claim sharks are now overpopulated, citing a \u201cshark explosion\u201d and equating them to \u201ccockroaches,\u201d Chapman says. In reality, it\u2019s a case of shifting baselines: Today\u2019s fishers weren\u2019t exposed to healthy shark populations of a century ago. As populations recover from overfishing, compete for fish and interact with fishers more, it creates the illusion of shark abundance \u2014 when really, many species are still hanging on by a thread. Researchers are studying shark deterrents, like electric pulses or magnets, that could decrease depredation.<\/p>\n
Still, resentment against sharks \u2014 and even retaliation \u2014 isn\u2019t unheard of. Some anecdotes place fishers just outside protected waters, waiting to intercept and kill sharks. This June, a Florida Keys charter captain was arrested for repeatedly stabbing a bull shark for breaking his fishing rod. A 2019 video shows a Naples fisherman shooting a shark with a pistol. A shark fishing tournament in 2022 in Palm Beach County drew criticism for killing at least nine sharks.<\/p>\n
A BIOMEDICAL BLUEPRINT<\/p>\n
Shark mating can be a gory affair. Male sharks must bite their partners to get them into position, the pair thrashing in a fight for dominance. The resulting wounds, even very severe ones, tend to heal rapidly and without infection \u2014 an evolutionary novelty.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one reason some cultures eat sharks, hoping to glean their uncanny healing abilities. The superpower, along with other fishy features, has also sparked scientific interest in translating shark research into human health breakthroughs.<\/p>\n
Carl Luer has worked at this intersection for more than four decades at Mote, using sharks, skates and rays as animal models for his biomedical research.<\/p>\n
With the Department of Defense, he has investigated how stingray mucus could be key to developing antibiotics for resistant pathogens. His team is looking to stingray venom for clues about drugs, pain and blood pressure. He\u2019s also tried \u2014 unsuccessfully \u2014 to induce cancer in sharks. (Counter to popular belief, sharks actually can get cancer, but it\u2019s rare.) While the carcinogens reached the target sites, the affected DNA was repaired rapidly. Now in retirement, Luer is still helping that project uncover how compounds derived from shark immune cells inhibit human cancer in the lab.<\/p>\n
Researchers are sequencing the genomes \u2014 or all the genetic information \u2014 of sharks to decode how their biology created such adaptations.<\/p>\n
NSU\u2019s Shivji, for instance, was the first to sequence the genome of white sharks in 2019. He found that they have very stable genes and develop fewer mutations than humans. That\u2019s because they have better mechanisms to repair mutated DNA, leading to less incidence of harmful diseases like cancer and neurological ailments. Shivji also identified a higher proportion of genes related to wound healing compared to the human genome. Other shark species, like whale sharks, share similar genetic qualities.<\/p>\n
SHARKS HAVE A REMARKABLE ABILITY to quickly heal from significant wounds. Researchers hope to translate their uncanny healing abilities into human health breakthroughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSharks have had a long time to evolve adaptations to keep them around, keep them successful,\u201d Shivji says. \u201cOne assumes that is the reason you see these higher proportions of genes that keep them around in this extremely long evolutionary history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Applying such findings to human health innovations is in its infancy. Some are slowly entering the marketplace, like Sharklet Technologies. The UF startup, now based in Colorado, drew inspiration from shark skin to create the first surface technology that inhibits bacteria growth via pattern alone. The company sells products like catheters and endotracheal tubes that are adorned with the distinct diamond pattern.<\/p>\n
But Luer says it\u2019s a big leap to jump from basic research to human applications, one handicapped by a lack of funding for the nontraditional medical approach. Others, like Naylor from the Florida Museum of Natural History, call it an \u201coptimistic story that lacks data to support it.\u201d<\/p>\n
NSU \u2014 in particular, its new chief medical officer Dr. Chad Perlyn \u2014 is itching to dig deeper.<\/p>\n
This year, the university is launching its NSU Ocean Health Initiative to combine its core research areas \u2014 marine ecology and health care \u2014 and pump out translational science that could be the foundation for clinical trials, medicinal cures and technological innovation. Identified projects include topics like microplastic impacts, undersea medicine and shark immunology research.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we do not have healthy oceans, we will not have healthy people,\u201d Perlyn says. \u201cThe amount of interest and attention being brought to this is on an exponential curve.\u201d<\/p>\n
STEM WITH TEETH<\/p>\n
Back aboard the R\/V Garvin, once the nurse shark surrenders to the research team, Macdonald carefully unwinds from her bearhug and repositions herself on the underwater platform. She now faces a very captivated audience: a collection of Girl Scout troops from Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
There is no John Williams score playing, no duuuhh-nuhs from the iconic Jaws franchise that sparked shark mania 50 years ago. Instead, tweens speak with hushed excitement. Throughout the day-long tagging trip, they\u2019ve helped set, reel and reset 30-plus drumlines. They even take turns assisting with the research, calling out measurements and tag numbers and parasite checks for each specimen aboard. (This group of guests also distributes shark gummies after each successful landing and names every caught fish. Meet Nelson, the eight-foot male nurse shark.)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the defining moment,\u201d announces Ellee Kluis, a 13-year-old Girl Scout from Palm Harbor, late in the day. \u201cMarine biology has always been (near) the top of what I want to do when I grow up. … Now it\u2019s higher up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentiment is enough to put a smile on Macdonald\u2019s sun-screened face. Through the UM Shark Research and Conservation Program, she brings between 800 and 1,000 middle and high school students shark tagging each year. She is also the co-founder and director of Field School, a program offering hands-on marine science research experience. Its mission? Offering introductory field work amid supportive and inclusive learning environments. Across both programs, Macdonald\u2019s teams are in the field around 115 days a year doing just that.<\/p>\n
Once the nurse shark is released, a Girl Scout gushes to Macdonald about her feat. Macdonald responds with a fist bump. \u201cWhen we have all-girl groups,\u201d she later says, still drenched from her dip in the seawater, \u201cit\u2019s important to show that it\u2019s not just the boys that do the heavy lifting.\u201d Research has shown many girls lose interest in STEM fields around age 15.<\/p>\n
Macdonald hopes sharks \u2014 large charismatic creatures with even larger reputations \u2014 can be a gateway to STEM fields. Others do, too. NSU has whisked more than 6,800 participants on shark science expeditions since 2014. UM is home to the Females in Natural Sciences (F.I.N.S.) initiative, which provides girls with hands-on experiences in women-led marine sciences. Minorities in Shark Sciences, a Bradenton-based nonprofit founded in 2020 by four Black female researchers, provides accessible and inclusive pathways to research, conservation and education in marine sciences. The Coastal Marine Education and Research Academy in Clearwater is one of several organizations that offer paid programming with sharks, designed to give students experience in their chosen field.<\/p>\n
The high-touch, safe experiences also counter the popular narrative that sharks are human-hunting monsters.<\/p>\n
If anything, the number of shark attacks around the world is slightly declining, says Naylor, who heads the International Shark Attack File \u2014 the world\u2019s only scientifically documented, comprehensive database of all known shark attacks since 1958. There were only 47 unprovoked attacks in 2024, down 22 from the previous year and well below the 10-year average of 70. Seven were fatal, four of which were unprovoked.<\/p>\n
Florida saw 14 shark bites last year, more than any other state, and a third of the world\u2019s total bites. Volusia County \u2014 the colloquial \u201cshark bite capital of the world,\u201d home to popular beaches like New Smyrna and Daytona \u2014 reported eight bites. None were fatal.<\/p>\n
All the while, the number of human hours in Florida waters has increased thanks to population growth and tourism. Yet the number of shark interactions has remained very low and stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell people that if sharks targeted people, we\u2019d have about 10,000 bites a day,\u201d Naylor says. \u201cThe fact that there\u2019s so many sharks in the water and so many people in the water, and there\u2019s so few bites, tells me that sharks are doing their best to avoid people. Occasionally, when they do bite them, it\u2019s because the water\u2019s murky and they made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shark Doctor<\/p>\n
Dr. Robert Borrego chuckles at his \u201cShark Doctor\u201d nickname. But the West Palm Beach trauma surgeon can see why the title stuck.<\/p>\n
Since 1991, Borrego has worked at the St. Mary\u2019s Medical Center, which sees five to six shark bite patients a year on average. (He famously helped save the leg of shark-diving pioneer Erich Ritter, who was attacked by a bull shark while filming a Discovery Channel interview for Shark Week in 2002.)<\/p>\n
The first step after a bite: Stop the bleeding and stabilize the wound. The second step \u2014 just as important \u2014 is making sure that wound heals by preventing infection. Historically, doctors would pump broad spectrum antibiotics into victims, a \u201cshotgun approach to kill anything and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a toddler\u2019s visit to the hospital due to a bite in 2012, when the father asked about the types of bacteria in shark mouths, Borrego confessed he didn\u2019t know. The line of questioning became a side project. He started fishing for sharks on beaches and by boat. Once they were reeled in, Borrego would disarm them by rubbing their snouts, stimulating the sensory endings there and rendering them immobile. Then he\u2019d swab their teeth and gums, bring the samples back to the lab, and grow the bacteria in incubators for study.<\/p>\n
Borrego has since catalogued more than 50 sharks and the bacteria in their mouths. He found that the type of bacteria varied by species and by shark location. Sharks found closer to the shore, for example, had different bacterial properties than those in the open ocean. The knowledge helps doctors cater specialized antibiotic treatments for each shark bite victim.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy having that discovery, we minimize the side effects, and the patients do better,\u201d Borrego says. \u201cThey have a shorter hospital stay, and they go home sooner. We could even treat them at home with specific antibiotics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tips to reduce risk of shark attack<\/p>\n
Swim with a buddy.
\n Stay close to the shore.
\n Don\u2019t swim at dawn or dusk, the most active feeding times for sharks.
\n Don\u2019t swim around schools of fish \u2014 sharks\u2019 prey \u2014 or where people are fishing.
\n Avoid wearing jewelry. The light reflecting off metal could resemble the glint of light off fish scales.
\n Avoid excess splashing.<\/p>\n
Source: University of Florida\u2019s International Shark Attack File<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Very quickly, the scene on the R\/V Garvin had turned from research to rodeo on the sparkling Biscayne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[200,79],"class_list":["post-134476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genetics","tag-genetics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}