Great white sharks are ‘guardians of fish stock,’ and population is steadily growing

If you enjoy eating seafood, you should thank a great white shark, as they’re “guardians of our fish stock,” according to OCEARCH Founder Chris Fischer, who is about to embark on a New England expedition to learn more about the magnificent predators.

“If the white shark’s not there, you have no lobster, no cod, no stripers, no mackerel, have no fishery. You have no future. You have no food,” Fischer told the Herald aboard the M/V OCEARCH vessel in New Bedford on Friday.

Sharks eat the seals that eat up all the tasty seafood humans enjoy, and that’s why great whites benefit the fish stock, Fischer explained.

The great white shark population off the east coast has been steadily rising in recent years, which isn’t such a bad thing, as it which promotes healthy oceans, according to Fischer.

“When you see the return of the shark like you’re seeing here, that’s a sign of a return to abundance of the region,” Fischer said.

OCEARCH is a global nonprofit that studies sharks and the ocean’s balance. Fischer and a team of fisherman, scientists and researchers are heading out for a 22-day shark research expedition on Sunday with the first stop off the coast of Cape Cod before they travel to waters off New Hampshire.

The team will tag great white sharks and take samples of them to learn more about the life cycle of the amazing creatures.

Each shark will get a full assessment that helps researchers understand anything from reproductive health to the microbiology of a shark’s teeth and mouth to determine the best antibiotics to administer if a white shark bites a swimmer.

OCEARCH has already tagged and assessed 70 great whites as part of its Northwest Atlantic White Shark Study. More than 55 peer-reviewed papers have been published thus far and with 40 scientists coming aboard the New England expedition, more reports are in the works.

Fishing the sharks and harmlessly getting them to the OCEARCH research vessel to insert a tracker and collect research samples is no easy task, though.

Brett McBride, OCEARCH fishing master, said he analyzes shoals and thoroughfares where sharks might be working their way toward seals to find the great whites.

Christian Purcell, OCEARCH leaderman, said they’ll fish nearby a seal population, or use bait such as tuna to attract the sharks before securely and safely leading them to the ship and onto a lift where a team of scientists will rush over to the animal.

“There’s an abundance of sharks here. Generally, we have a very good shot at catching great white sharks every day that we’re out there,” Purcell said.

Sharks that are tagged on the expedition are then added to OCEARCH’s real-time shark tracker, which currently monitors sharks across the globe.

The Herald will be joining OCEARCH onboard its vessel off Cape Cod for a day of its expedition to learn more.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3BRL91I