Pelagic Shark Research Foundation

We were treated this evening to Sean Van Sommeran’s special presentation and research on sharks in Elkhorn Slough, Monterey Bay, Ano Nuevo, and in Guadalupe Island, Mexico. Sean is the founder of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation and will be the PI, primary investigator, of the Monterey marine mammal expedition next year with Earthwatch.
I could not believe that there are over 400 species of sharks and only a few are really a potential threat to people and would need to be provoked to be harmful. Most sharks are harmless to people and we are really the greatest threat to sharks. For example, the basking shark is threatened with extinction due to man’s brutal killing/ mutilation, just to obtain their fins, for a soup delicacy and tossed alive back into the sea without their fin – they will simply drown and brutally die. Shark liver is also taken to produce commercial oil products and a catch to hang the jaws/teeth as trophies.
www.pelagic.org
To see more photos of sharks and Sean Van Sommeran’s research visit:
http://www.pelagic.org/archive
Astrix and Spy Hop boats are the ones that we have used for our field work.