November 18, 2020

Hi Everyone!

Thanks to the generous donations, we have been able to continue sampling for sharks in this very different and difficult time. Although I would never want a repeat of 2020, it has been extremely gratifying to see people come together to help each other when they can.
The Southeast Farallon Island has continued to be productive and we have seen a total of 18 individual white sharks over 6 trips out to the island! In mid-November, we are seeing sharks on every trip out and the biologists stationed on the island who scan the ocean looking for signs of predation events (among many other duties) are seeing attacks on elephant seals and sea lions regularly. On November 15th, we witnessed another white shark successfully take down an elephant seal. The shark was a well-known 16ft male readily identified by his dorsal fin that has a 'sickle' shape to the pattern, prompting us to call him "Sickle-Fin". Unlike Step-Notch (from the last update), who did not finish her meal before departing the scene, Sickle-Fin killed and ate the entire elephant seal that weighed ~350-400 lbs!
Feeding events like these can stir up and excite other sharks in the area. As you can imagine, there is a lot of blood in the water that can be easily detected by other sharks in the area. The smell of a kill sparks an opportunity for other sharks in the area to potentially steal the carcass, so the efficiency of consumption can be key to the successful hunter so they don't lose their meal. It was nice to see that Sickle-Fin wasted no time and was able to reap the rewards of his efforts.
Our methods of attracting sharks to the surface involve using a decoy that creates an image of a seal silhouette when observed from below. Sometimes, a shark close to the bottom patrolling the area looking for unsuspecting seals to ambush, will see our 'seal' and will be triggered to strike. This leads to a fairly dramatic aerial display for a fish that can weigh up to 4000lbs! Late in the day, we were lucky enough to have witnessed such an event.

From the entire team, we want to express our deep gratitude to all of you for your contributions in making the 2020 Great White Shark Count successful. We could not have done it without you.

Cheers!

Paul