HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Hollywood has really done a number on sharks.
“Ever since I watched Jaws, I’m like yeah I’m not going in the water,” says 11-year-old Broward County student Joseph Geren.
It is a pervasive attitude in desperate need of a makeover. Sharks are in fact one of the ocean’s most misunderstood creatures, feared and maligned by many people who are unaware of how important sharks are to all life on the planet.
Young Joseph is open to changing his perception.
“I really like them, but I’m just afraid of them,” said Geren.
Geren was part of a group of students in the Surf Skate Science, a non-profit program bringing STEM education to home-schooled students that also offers after-school learning opportunities.
The students and some of their parents were invited to spend the day out on the water off Hollywood Beach on board the American Dream dive boat with the science team from Nova Southeastern University. Their mission: to catch and tag sharks for research.
“We’re exposing them to a great career in marine science, but also getting them to really love sharks and to learn about sharks in a real way,” explained Surf Skate Science Founder Toni Frallicciardi.
On this day, the Atlantic Ocean provided the classroom and NSU’s Community Outreach Coordinator and Research Scientist Derek Burkholder had quite the lesson planned as the students helped the team cast 10 baited drumlines into the sea.
“It’s always amazing to see what we catch,” Burkholder reflected.
In less than an hour, the students pulled up their first catch, a sandbar shark, protected in Florida waters. It was a total hands-on experience as the students themselves helped tag, measure it, and take a small fin sample.
Burkholder has led hundreds of these expeditions before and says the experience is transformative.
“Something that some people are scared of, but when you see them in this context, it really changes the mind completely around,” explained Burkholder.
The young class could hardly contain its excitement.
“Its gold skin is just so pretty,” exclaimed 8-year-old Luna Ojeda.
“It just made me like them more,” said 11-year-old Alexander Green.
But this was more than just a cool experience for the kids, it was a legitimate research expedition where important data was gathered from each shark to help scientists assess the health of South Florida’s shark population.
“We’re looking at seasonal patterns, we’re looking at their diets, we’re even looking at their genetics to see how they fit in with other populations of sharks around the world,” explained Burkholder.
After the data was taken from the sandbar shark it was quickly released, but soon after the students pulled up an 8-foot nurse shark, and repeated their assigned tasks.
The program is part of the Guy Harvey Institute’s Save Our Seas Shark Research Center. Scientists there regularly invite kids and educators to join them for research missions to underscore the critical role that sharks play in maintaining our healthy oceans.
“Sharks are so very important in our ecosystems,” Burkholder stressed. “They help balance our marine ecosystems out.”
Since 1970, global shark populations have declined by more than 70%. Right now, humans are killing over a hundred million sharks a year, driven by the insatiable fin market.
“So when we’re taking that many out, we are doing massive damage to our oceans worldwide,” said Burkholder.
It was an important lesson for these young conservationists. One, they won’t soon forget.
“It felt cool,” enthusiastically exclaimed Green by the end of the mission.
“I love sharks so much, yeah they’re awesome,” said 11-year-old Sawyer Coe.
“They’re a part of the ocean, we don’t want to hurt them or do anything to them,” said Ojeda. “This is their home, we just love them.”
Despite anecdotal reports of increased shark sightings and incidents of sharks stealing catch from anglers, scientists push back and say that South Florida’s shark population is not where it should be.
Populations of reef sharks specifically have declined by up to 73% over the last 50 years worldwide, which is why expeditions like this one are so important.
If you’d like to learn more about the Save Our Seas Shark Research Center, visit the NSU website.