Sharks are Great on TV, Better in Real Life

Sharks are Great on TV, Better in Real Life

by Guy Harvey

As TV viewers are tuned in to sharks this week, the Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI) at Nova Southeastern University and Discovery Cove are focused on sharks year around. In fact, sharks served as the foundation for the successful 5-year partnership between Guy Harvey and Discovery Cove’s parent organization, SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment.

As SeaWorld Orlando was preparing to launch their “Mako” rollercoaster, they reached out to the GHRI, which maintains one of the longest running mako shark satellite tagging programs in the world. With SeaWorld’s support, the GHRI has greatly expanded our knowledge of this apex predator, tracking them in the Atlantic Ocean as far north as Newfoundland, as far south as Brazil, and as far east as the Azores. But most notably, since researchers are able to follow where these fish move, we were able to definitively see when one of our tagged fish was caught and taken back to port.

With over 100 satellite tagged mako sharks swimming around the western North Atlantic Ocean, over 30% of these sharks were caught and killed. This fishing mortality rate is 10 times higher than what was previously thought and well beyond a sustainable extraction rate. These data prompted fisheries managers to downgrade shortfin mako sharks to overfished, with overfishing occurring; add them to the Endangered Species List; and set new limits for commercial and recreational harvest.

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