15 things the Shark Research program at UM accomplished in 2015

It’s been a great year for our team! Here are some of our accomplishments from 2015:

1. We published a paper using evolutionary theory to predict extinction risk, and it was featured on the cover of Trends in Ecology in Evolution!

2. We took 1,321 guests from the community out on the shark research boat with us. They ranged in age from 10 to 80, and came from 43 U.S. states and 49 countries.

3. We published a paper showing that seals hunt and kill sharks, and it was featured on the cover of the African Journal of Marine Science!

4. Members of our team spoke to hundreds of middle school, high school and college students about marine biology and conservation!

5. We published ten more scientific papers on a variety of topics!

6. We deployed 1,961 drumlines during 61 days of sampling, and we caught, measured, sampled, tagged and released 323 sharks of 12 species!

7. We welcomed our largest-ever class of interns!

8. We deployed 14 satellite tags! You can track all of our satellite tagged sharks here using Google Earth! We also deployed 22 acoustic tags!

9. Our team participated in community outreach events, including Taste of the Sea, Rock the Oceans, and the Frost Science Museum’s Underwater Festival!

10. Our satellite tracking data was used by the National Marine Fisheries Service to designate essential fish habitat for Atlantic highly migratory species!

11. Our team presented research at the American Elasmobranch Society conference!

12. The biggest shark we tagged this year was a 450 cm (nearly 15 foot) great hammerhead!

13. Our director Dr. Neil Hammerschlag served on the scientific advisory committee for the Fish at Night conference, and several members of our team presented their research there! Read tweets from the meeting here: 

14. Our research was widely covered in the media, including Discovery News and Smithsonian Magazine. 

15. We co-hosted shark trivia night with the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence!