![]() Gregory Skomal, a marine biologist who heads the Massachusetts Shark Research Program, says the research is of particular interest along the densely populated East Coast, where great whites are being spotted with greater frequency. “This gives us a much better understanding of the movement patterns of these animals through days, months and years,” says Robert Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida. The organization operates largely on corporate funding and its crew consists of professional fisherman-turned-ocean explorers. OCEARCH is one of the few outfits with the technology, skill and resources for the job. The massive beasts are extremely difficult to tag with modern GPS trackers that would help closely track their movements. Shark researchers say the work is important because there’s still a lot unknown about the behavior of mature white sharks. ![]() OCEARCH’s multi-year project uses GPS trackers affixed to the shark’s dorsal fin to post real time data on dozens of great whites across the globe - Mary Lee was hanging out near Ocean City, Maryland on Sunday, for example - with the goal of better understanding the shark’s life cycle and encouraging conservation of the endangered ocean predators. I (try) to be respectful of the important work OCEARCH does and have fun at the same time.” “The best part is that plays a role in helping to replace fear with facts by retweeting and commenting on tweets. I do everything manually - no robo tweets,” the account owner wrote. “The recent explosion of followers has been a lot of fun, but also like a second job. The account’s operator identified themselves only as a daily newspaper reporter living on the East Coast and expressed pleasant surprise at the attention - and OCEARCH’s support. The person behind the account did surface when The Associated Press sent a Twitter message. and both have sizable followings of their own. OCEARCH has even jumped on the bandwagon, launching “official” Twitter handles for two other sharks it’s monitoring off the East Coast. “They’re really clever, they really like sharks and they’re on mission, so we’re just kind of rolling with it,” he said from the organization’s latest expedition in Australia. But OCEARCH expedition leader Chris Fischer, who named Mary Lee after his mother, says the organization appreciates the attention the maritime missives have generated. The fake Twitter handle isn’t affiliated with OCEARCH (pronounced Oh-Search). The shark, which was tagged off the coast of Cape Cod, is among hundreds of sharks that OCEARCH, a Utah-based organization, has tagged and tracked since 2007.
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