​We are so excited to announce that our Director, Catherine, is the recipient of a 2019 Save Our Seas Foundation Keystone Grant to support shark fisheries research in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines! Our research studies the scale and practices of the subsistence shark meat fishery to provide baseline data on what sharks are present in Vincentian waters and how many are interacting with the fishery. This type of data is crucial for improving conservation of shark populations throughout the southern Caribbean, and relies heavily on collaboration with local fishermen and managers. This project will also collect data on mercury contamination in shark meat across species and sizes of shark to better understand whether consumption of shark meat may threaten human health.

Our team recaptured a young female tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) this month when we were out with the awesome Ocean First Institute. This beautiful girl was originally caught by our team on March 15. Since that time she grew 22 cm! Check out before/after pictures below. 

Our team had an incredible June with three back to back courses on the R/V Garvin. We started out with our Tropical Marine Research course, during which our awesome students explored seagrass, mangrove, and coral reef habitats while learning a variety of monitoring, surveying, and restoration techniques. We followed that up with two Intro to Shark Research Skills courses. Across these three weeks our students helped us take scientific measurements and  samples from more than 50 sharks and rays before before releasing them safely back into their homes. Check out some of the highlight pictures below!