Año Nuevo Island White Shark Study/Pelagic Shark Research Foundation

This is a video overview of our efforts to develop Año Nuevo Island into the world class research site that it is today; established in 1992, the project has succeeded in triggering an avalanche of data and numerous published and unpublished manuscripts and technical reports while tagging and documenting the white sharks that seasonally patrol the waters around the small near-shore island rookery when not traveling the far offshore waters of the open, deep seas of the central eastern pacific and beyond. Video was recorded and edited by Callaghan Fritz-Cope of the Santa Cruz California based Pelagic Shark Research Foundation (PSRF). The research work depicted was video-taped aboard the PSRF vessel 'Asterix'. Researchers depicted include Sean Van Sommeran and crew (Fritz-Cope as cameraman) attaching ultra sonic acoustic transmitters to sharks with a lance while using a lure and/or carefully working in close proximity to predatory events involving northern elephant seals and california sealions primarily. Sharks are documented as the handle and feed upon the adult elephant seals. Studies indicate that white sharks are targeting both adult and subadult seals primarily. Sharks are tagged via use of lures and small portions of bait which are never fed or presented to the sharks. Attraction is strictly for the purposes of documenting presence, individual ID, population structure, behavior, natural history, range and movements.