As nice white sharks begin to arrive alongside the Cape forward of the summer time, a brand new program can be urging folks to report any white shark sightings off the Massachusetts coast.
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and the New England Aquarium on Tuesday introduced that they’re partnering on an initiative that encourages residents and guests to report shark sightings off Cape Cod by the Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.
The Conservancy is contracting the Aquarium to make use of a neighborhood citizen science coordinator who’s liable for verifying shark sighting experiences made by the general public by Sharktivity — and documenting accounts of shark-seal interactions or different predatory conduct.
The coordinator — Massachusetts-based shark knowledgeable John Chisholm, who’s with the New England Aquarium and who has been monitoring shark sightings for a few years — can even submit white shark images and movies from the general public for the Conservancy’s White Shark Logbook.
“This is really something I’ve been doing for years already, and formalizing it a bit,” stated Chisholm, who runs the “MA Sharks” Twitter account. “If you’ve been following Sharktivity or my social media, you understand a giant factor I attempt to do is get the message out about shark sightings and alerts.
“This is continuing that with a wider opportunity to work with the Conservancy and Aquarium to spread the word on shark sightings, and make people aware that they can contribute information on sightings and seal predations,” he added.
Sharktivity offers info and push notifications for alerts about white shark sightings, detections and actions. The app sightings are enter by researchers, security officers and customers who add images for affirmation.
By enabling app customers to report shark sightings and add images, the Conservancy is gathering info on the place sharks are noticed to reduce encounters and promote security. Data from sharks with acoustic tags and Smart Position and Temperature Tags (SPOT) are additionally accessible on the app.
“The New England Aquarium is one of the nation’s premier institutions dedicated to marine life conservation, education and research, and our collaborative effort will enhance rapid and accurate confirmation of white shark sightings reported through Sharktivity,” Cynthia Wigren, CEO and co-founder of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, stated in a press release.
“Citizen scientists play a crucial role in the Conservancy’s mission to educate the community and improve public safety, and we rely upon and value their sighting data reported through the Sharktivity app,” Wigren added.
The citizen science coordinator can even work with the general public to advertise consciousness of non-white shark species, together with skates and rays, which inhabit New England waters and are sometimes misidentified.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”