An Orange County scientist who spent years growing kelp forests offshore is firing up volunteers for her newest project: breeding green abalone in local schools, then releasing them into the wild.
Nancy Caruso, a marine biologist and head of the “Get Inspired!” non-profit organization, caught three good-sized abalone off Laguna Beach Saturday with help from her dive team. She kept the abalone in tanks overnight to get fecal samples, and returned them to their offshore hideout the next day.
Craig Miller is an experienced diver in the Pacific Northwest who took this amazing video of a Sixgill Shark (Hexanchus griseus) in Puget Sound, a close ‘cousin,’ if you will, to the Sevengill sharks we’ve been seeing recently here in San Diego (Notorynchus cepedianus), but which normally inhabits much deeper waters.
in light of the recent ‘jump’ in Sevengill shark sightings locally, both here in San Diego and even one up in in Little Corona[OC] in January of this year, I thought now might be a good time to renew my annual call for Sevengill shark sighting submissions for our sister site, the Sevengill website at: http://sevengillsharksightings.org
<—-See link at lower left, with the green Sevengill shark.
Basically, I’m requesting the data in any form: dive reports w/out photos [anecdotal], photographs and/or videos.
While obviously, we can’t pay anyone [no revenue or ads are accepted on the website--it's strictly for personal interest and marine researchers] I can promise you the following:
–full credit by name [obviously] for dive reports: please include as much ‘hard data’ as you can from your dive computer, such as time of day, depth, water temperature, visibility and general water conditions. The more data you can supply, the better.
–for videos: both You Tube and Vimeo are fine, but try to put your name and location in the video, as well as time of day and date, as I can’t do that for you, but I can give you full credit. I recommend Vimeo for any Hi Def video and for ease of use.
That’s it!
We’re coming to ‘that time of year’ now, where Sevengill sightings take a jump and I think we’re in a position to get some really interesting data this year and you can help.
For you science divers out there, we’re in touch with Vallorie Hodges, DSO of the Oregon Coastal Aquarium [which has 10 Sevengills] and Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Director of Science Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) and they are all following developments down here with interest. As is well-know shark photographer Marty Snyderman, by the way.
For those of you who are REEFers [as well as those of you who are not ], Janna Nichols, Outreach Coordinator and Marine Life ID Instructor for REEF in the Pacific Northwest, has said that you are welcome to go to Reef.org and create a log in ID, if you haven’t done so already–even if you are NOT a REEF surveyor--and, record your Sevengill encounter in their database.
There are instructions for non-REEFers to record their encounters on my website, on the left-hand side, under ‘Procedure for Entering Sevengill Sightings in REEF’s Database.’
I am a REEFer myself and can answer any questions you may have on the procedure as well and I’m happy to help.
Thanks so much for your help–as I say: this should be a really interesting year for Sevengills, who appear to be congregating in increasing numbers at La Jolla Cove and elsewhere.
A final note about GPS numbers: if you send them to me, they will remain confidential, for the protection of the sharks, and never be posed, but may be shared with marine science researchers.
As always, when around animals in the wild [which is what sharks are] and predators, use common sense and never place your personal safety at risk to ‘get that photo or video.’ Safety is first, data second. The incidence of attacks on divers by Sevengills is statistically very low compared with other species of shark, but never assume anything: they will always be a predator.
This year California Ships to Reefs (CSTR) is proud to honor an impressive group of people for their long record of extraordinary accomplishments to benefit the organization's mission.Contributor: Michael BearPublished: Aug 18, 2010 […]
