SOUTHAMPTON, NY — South Fork shark trainers took their knowledge of local waters to the international stage recently: The South Fork History Museum's or SOFO's shark research and training program was represented at the World White Sharks Conference held in Port Lincoln, South Australia . In November.
Chief Scientist of SOFO's Shark Research and Education Program, Dr. Tobey Curtis, and lead field coordinator, Greg Metzger, gave presentations at the White Sharks World Congress 2023. The conference, attended by more than 150 participants, marked the first international great white shark conference in 13 years.
The week included 65 talks and 7 workshop sessions. Both Curtis and Metzger spoke about data from the young shark's work on Long Island.
Curtis talked about the potential change in the great white shark nursery caused by climate change and how that change could affect the survivability of individuals, SOFO said. Metzger spoke of the rapid expansion of the migratory range of sharks that have marked their first five years of life, SOFO added.
Frank Quevedo, Executive Director of SOFO, commented: “We are proud that SOFO is represented on the world stage among so many outstanding leaders in white shark science. It was exciting that many opportunities for potential collaborations arose. We are also very proud of all the YOY white sharks tagged in the world, the SOFO team has tagged about half! There has been great interest in our access to this understudied white shark life stage here off Long Island.”
Metzger added: “It was gratifying to see that SOFO's public messaging about shark safety for mariners was accurate and consistent with other regions around the world facing similar challenges — such as California, South Africa and the East Australia. Overall, we learned a lot from our colleagues that we can apply here in our backyard.”
SOFO said its collaborative research team has been studying sharks off Long Island since 2015, and added that it was the first to satellite tag baby white sharks in the Atlantic Ocean. The local waters in Montauk include the only known white shark nursery area in the Atlantic, and “this area is the focus of our scientific efforts. We are using cutting-edge technologies to better understand and conserve the sharks found on Long Island and to collect data for scientists and managers up and down the coast,” said SOFO.
In addition to its shark exhibit, SOFO continues to host a variety of shark-themed educational programs, public lectures, and school outreach. Check here for a list of upcoming programs.
SOFO said its unique interactive exhibit brings visitors virtually face-to-face with the important marine predators. Incorporating scientific data directly from its team of collaborating scientists, the interactive exhibit includes a virtual shark tagging experience, satellite tracking maps, field photos and “all kinds of biological facts about our local sharks,” SOFO said.
Metzger, a marine biologist, also teaches marine science at Southampton High School and has been fishing for sharks off the coast of Long Island for more than 10 years.
“The 2018 season found us shooting exciting underwater footage using a 360 camera,” Metzger told Patch in a previous interview.
SOFO Museum scientists have placed a strong emphasis on capturing, tagging and releasing young-of-the-year individuals to track their movements, as the south coast of Long Island, off Montauk, is home to the only known nursery for juvenile sharks in the North Atlantic ocean.
There is much to discover about the movements of “great whites” – as they are often called – at this early stage of life, as there is little data on the subject, the museum said.
Despite recent shark sightings, experts said it's still very, very safe to go in the water. Metzger, in an earlier interview, told Patch there is no cause for concern.
First of all, Metzger said, despite the concerns expressed by the public: “If you think about the number of people in New York on the water for over 100 years, billions, of those billions” only a handful have been adversely affected by a shark, including a lifeguard bitten off the coast of Long Island in 2022. “The statistics show that the number of encounters is so infinitesimal, it's not even worth thinking about,” he said.
Joe Yaiullo, curator and co-founder of the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center, said shark sightings are indeed a good thing. “With them being the top of the food chain, if they're here, it's good for people,” Yaiullo explained. “People shouldn't think that more sharks in the water means they're going to be attacked. That's not the case at all.”
Sharks are a sign of a healthy ecosystem with plenty of fish, clean water and less pollution, a sign that the United States is doing a good job of managing its fisheries, he said.
Gone are the days of the old Montauk tournaments, when sharks were caught, hung from the dock and weighed, then thrown in the trash, Yaiullo said. Today's tournaments are tag-and-release events, he said.
He added that sharks are globally endangered. “It's important to spread a conservation message,” Yaiullo said. “We don't eat shark fin soup, nor do we participate in all these bad practices. We humans kill a hundred million sharks every year, for shark teeth and jaws. We do far more harm to them than to us. And if the we're doing well, we're doing well.”
