Track a Shark

[Billfish715]

Here's a fun site to play with on these cold, snowy days and nights at home. Scroll your way around the site by clicking on the recent "pings" and then track the movements of some of the tagged sharks. Click on "recent pings" and look for those sharks which have recently surfaced long enough for the satellite to get a fix. Cate Ellis, a mako, was tagged off Montauk and has put some mileage on since then. Katharine and Lydia are two Great Whites who are really getting around as well. It's interesting and informative.

http://www.ocearch.org/#Home

[joerosa1]

One of the Great Whites being tracked, Katharine, a 2,300-pound, 14-foot-long, pinged its location feet from a recreational parking pier. (picture article below)

http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20141009/News/410090308

[Dino]

I love this site.. check it out daily from my desk at work for years.. the makos always end up caught within < 1 year ... one famously by a portuguese long liner.. all of the scientists on the OCEARCH twitter feed thought the shark was making a trans atlantic crossing ... HAHAH. it was just a longline boat that was fishing washington canyon.. they caught the mako (90lb fish) cut the tag off and it was on board the entire trip back east and transmitting to the sattelite.. crazy. you could clearly see when the vessell stopped and put out a set on the mid-atlantic ridge.. soaked it for a couple days, hauled in and continued east. the last transmission was from land a few miles from the fishing port in portugal. proof that these guys along with many countries are fishing our EEZ constantly.

[Dino]

screen shot attached

[Capt. Debbie]

Wow that is cool.

[captmark]

I have been a big fan of that web site for some time, Lydia a mature female last winter was a huge surprise, after feeding off of Cape Cod went north for the winter she then looped over to Ireland then to Spain and back across the Atlantic and back to North Carolina for the Spring, and it looks like she is doing it again!
great web site

[Billfish715]

Look up the shark "Beamer", a 200 lb. Blue Shark that was tagged off Montauk. It traveled south into the Gulf of Mexico and then across Costa Rica. It sounds like another recaptured shark which was taken on a ride or at least the transponder was. Just a PS.......one of the Great Whites traveled over 100 miles in 24 hrs. It really makes you wonder about why some of those secret fishing shark fishing spots are not always so productive from day to day or week to week. The sharks can cover a lot of water in 24 hrs.

[Bass_Appeal]

what would u do if you caught one of these tagged sharks ?

[Billfish715]

As you know, the Great Whites are protected but their habits and travels are fascinating given their size and place near the top of the food chain. Catching any of the tagged fish in this program and keeping them is illogical given the time and effort put into it. I would like to know more about the migration patterns of the makos and threshers but a program like that might provide too much information and lead to overfishing of the species.

[mrfritz44]

We watched a 1200lb tiger swim (virtually) into Assawoman Bay behind ocean city Maryland last year. What made it fun was that we were on vacation down there and clamming in the bay that week. I guess they're always there, but it was spooky knowing it for sure.