Guadalupe Island White Shark Program
Guadalupe Island is located approximately 260 miles from San Diego and is a hotspot for large, adult white sharks. In recent years, some of the younger sharks tagged by the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Shark Lab in southern ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñhave been detected out at Guadalupe Island, as they get to over 3 years old. Beginning early 2018, the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Shark Lab and began a collaboration to help connect enthusiastic cage divers with the latest on shark research and technology.
A custom software, ​Shark Sonar,​ was created by Jennifer Luong (B.S. Computer Science, ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ) that displays shark information to the guests and is synced to an acoustic receiver that listens for tagged sharks on the M.V. Horizon. When a tagged shark is detected near the boat, the guests see the alert on a TV monitor, and learn about that shark (e.g., where it was tagged, estimated size at tagging, when it was detected last).
Additionally, a ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Shark Lab student participates as the on-board shark biologist and helps provide a further understanding for guests on shark biology and behavior. Over time, we hope to gain a better understanding of how many tagged sharks are encountered on a cage diving trip, and to help identify tagged sharks by their physical characteristics. We additionally hope to better understand the connections between the southern ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñand Guadalupe Island shark populations.
