millions of sharks are flourishg
in the Gulf of Mexico,
including one of the most feared
apex predators on the planet.
This evening we take you on
board a ship where saving the
shark is the life mission of
a Bay Area marine biologist.
So much of the ocean is undiscod
in a sea
of saltwater explorers.
I'm constantly surprised
doing ocean research.
There are a myriad of mysteries
below the surface. The
oceans are really big place and
and so much is as yet unexplore.
Out in the open sea one mile off
the South Carolina coast, Sarasa
marine biologist Dr.
Bob Huter and a team of researcs
are about to get up close and
personal with one of the most
maligned and misunderstood
apex predators on the planet.
For two weeks, Cuter and other
scientists from the nonprofit
organization OH Search have been
on the hunt for great white sha.
There's another one right there.
Take a look.
And they just hit the mother lo.
As humans, it was still thrillig
to see these animals around us.
They are rebounding that.
We can see that in catch record.
We actually run 25 different projects.
In parallel with every shark
that we bring on board and
we're collecting blood samples,
we're taking muscle samples.
Some of us are doing ultrasoundo
look for pregnancy and other th,
taking genetic samples.
Of course, we're measuring the animals,
which is something we can do vey
accurately when they're on the
lift that you can't do in the wr
like a NASCAR pit crew.
It's high speed work designed
to save the life of the shark.
We limit ourselves to 15.
No more than 20 minutes
and safeguard the future of the species. As
biologists and his conservation,
we would never do this if we tht
the sharks were being harmed.
After attaching a GPS tracker,
this shark swims away but remais
under the watchful eye of sciens
who track his journey for years
beyond where they were going and
when We didn't know why. And the
tracking helps us determine why great
whites are the snowbirds of sha.
Summers in the Northeast winners in the
Southeast, including the Gulf of Mexico,
And then they'll leave about the same
time after Easter and start heading north
in 2021 after attaching a GPS tracker
to this 12 foot 3 inch great whe
named Scott Cuter and the OSERT,
scientists track Scott's migratory patterns.
95156 miles in two years spendig
last winter swimming off the
coast of Venice. Are we seeing
more great whites in the Gulf of Mexico?
I think we are.
They're very far offshore.
They're they're not coming
up close to the beach.
It's very unusual for one of the
animals to come within 20 miles
and most of the time they're
going to be 50 to 100 miles out.
But I really think that there'sa
real strong possibility these animals.
Have learned over eons to avoid
this area in cases red tide
While Gray whites are at least 0
miles out in the Gulf, there are many
more sharks much closer to shor.
In fact, scientists say they're seeing
more sharks now than they have in decades.
But they see more of us than we do of them.
It's pretty obvious
somebody's going to get bit.
From the shore they seem like an
unwelcome stranger. But from the air,
sharks are clearly our neighbor.
I think a lot of people would be
surprised how often you'll havea
packed out beach with people ine
water and then if you put a drop
there will be a shark and not tt
far away or even multiple shark.
There are lots of sharks in
the Gulf of Mexico.
There's millions because
we're talking about lots
of species and some
people choose to push the
boundaries while diving in.
Stewart Inlet 17 year old Nick
Bailey documented his face to
face encounter with a great whi.
We'll see some bull sharks and sandbar
sharks and stuff like that ther,
but I never anything like that
For some beachgoers sharing the water
with sharks, his mind over matt.
It's kind of always in the back
of my mind. Florida is the shark
by capital of the world.
Last year there were
1617 year old Addison Bethea lot
her leg to a shark while swimmin
five feet of water off Keaton B.
I'm still going to get
an ocean when I heal. I
get better. I'm still going to
do what I love, but don't just
let fear ever take your life
Well, the reality is if sharks
wanted to feed on humans,
they could do it, you know,
all day, every day and that
it would be a bloodbath.
While sharks may not be a significant
threat to our safety and increag
number of anglers are concerned,
they're catching fewer fish and they blame
protections put in place to save sharks.
It is affecting their operations
to have sharks that are stealin.
Their fish off their lines or they're
catching more sharks than they really
care to when they're not targeting them.
Come on Campbell. On this Januay
trip, 12 year old Campbell Keenan catches
the biggest fish of his life, a great
white off the coast of Fort Lauderdale.
I was a little bit nervous, like I don't.
I don't know if I want to
go up against the shark.
In the 1990s I joined long line
commercial shark fishermen.
150 miles out in the Gulf of Me,
some with hundreds of miles of ,
we witnessed dozens of sharks hd
in their overnight haul. We've
estimated that about 100 million
sharks get killed per year by humans.
Today was state and federal protections.
The shark population has rebound
and Moat marine scientists in Sarasota
are seen species of sharks they
haven't seen in more than 30 ye.
A little before Christmas of last year,
I was pulling in the line and
something enormous was on it,
and it was just pulling the whole weight.
It was a real tug of war.
The shark came up,
it was about 12 feet long and
everybody was crying out.
It's a this, it's a that,
and then all of a sudden it's a
dusky shark and we all go nuts
back on board the Osert
ship. The secrets of the sea are becoming
increasingly clear with every c.
Sharks represent in in some ways that
the overall health of the ocean.
If you don't have a healthy shark population,
then the oceans themselves are not healthy.
Among the 92 great whites they'e
tagged is a 13 foot 4 inch shark
they've named Bob. How does it l
having a great white named after you?
I almost weigh as much as Bob these days.
With humor, Bob Huter looks to the future,
heartened and hopeful that a sea creature
more than 400 million years oldl
be around for generations to co.
I'm basically an optimist when t
comes to the future of the plan.
We have to work hard, though.
We can't just.
We can't just ignore the proble.
And we have
it with sharks in the US if we n
do it with sharks, and I think e
can do it with just about anyth.
Now the researchers at O Search encourage
you to try out the Shark Trackep
and website I'm tracking Bob right now.
It allows you to track those 92 great
white sharks and gives you a chance to
learn more about these apex predators.
We have posted the address on 10
tampabay.com along with some tis
on how to swim more safely in an
ocean with millions of sharks.