- Shark big shark, big shark!
NARRATOR: These biologists have nicknamed this massive
Tiger Shark Sam Houston, and he is being caught for science.
- Washer!
- NARRATOR: They are attaching a tracking transmitter,
all in an effort to help save the species.
- GREG STUNZ: Sharks play very important roles in our
marine ecosystem, ah without having these top end
what we call apex predators, you have the ecosystem
that gets out of balance.
These predators help control everything below them.
(music)
- NARRATOR: And now these wolves of the ocean are in trouble.
(music)
(ship engine)
- PERRY TRIAL: Worldwide, sharks have been depleted
by overfishing.
Between 30 and 70 million sharks killed by humans every year.
(music)
- GREG: What impact that has we simply don't know because we
don't have a firm understanding of really even how many
sharks are out there.
(music)
(shark splashing)
- NARRATOR: Catching sharks for their fins is a billion dollar
a year business.
- PERRY: One of the things that has contributed to the decline
in sharks is shark finning.
Fisherman who actually catch the sharks, and cut their fins off,
and discard the body.
Since 1993 that practice has been illegal in American waters
but it still continues in foreign waters.
Because they can get ya know up to $900 a pound
for the shark fins.
- NARRATOR: As Asia and in particular China's economy
thrives, the demand for extravagant shark fin soup
has exploded, and there are few international fishing
regulations in place.
- GREG: We have a worldwide concern about the status of
shark populations, when you see that number of sharks
and biomass removed from the ocean it's very problematic.
And that's where the science really comes in is what is the
true abundance of these sharks look like.
(boat horn)
- NARRATOR: Texas Parks and Wildlife biologists keep a close
eye on sharks every summer by doing what's called a
long line study.
- This morning we are going to the Gulf of Mexico,
and our target is to catch as many sharks as we can
and tag as many sharks as we can!
- PERRY: The bait that we use is Atlantic Mackerel,
it's a really oily fish and sharks seem to like it.
(music)
- BIOLOGIST: Good to go!
- We are setting the line right now, the line comes out
off of the spool, and as we are going,
we have these hooks and these barrels,
we pull those out of the barrel
and just clip em onto the line as we go.
(water splashes)
- PERRY: We use these long lines to help us monitor the
distribution and abundance of sharks within
the Gulf of Mexico.
(music)
- BIOLOGIST: Shark, yep, shark!
Black-tip, male!
- There's definitely an adrenaline rush,
that's one reason I'm on the back of the boat!
- TECHNICIAN: Whoa!
- JUSTIN: It's pretty exciting when you get to jump on top
of a shark and you feel that pulse when they are about
to just freak out!
- TECHNICIAN: Watch it, watch it!
Male, there you go good tag!
I need a length.
- JUSTIN: Fourteen forty four.
- TECHNICIAN: I need a weight.
- JUSTIN: Sixteen-four.
- Whoa!
Just let it go, just let it go.
- PERRY: The sharks that we catch, we also tag and release.
- TECHNICIAN: Go ahead and lay it over the side like that!
- PERRY: So we get information on their movements
and their growth rates, so we can use all that
information to help manage and conserve shark species.
- A major scientific concern we have with shark
populations in Texas, are understanding their
migration patterns.
Understanding where they go and when can be essential
towards their proper management.
- NARRATOR: So now Sam Houston and many more sharks have been
tagged by scientists from the Harte Research Institute.
- SCIENTIST: OK, beautiful, here we go.
(water gurgles)
- GREG: We have literally 50 or more sharks tagged,
they are swimming around, reporting back,
and telling us all kinds of scientific information.
- NARRATOR: It turns out that information is a bit troubling.
- GREG: In general we see a southward movement into Mexico,
and that movement pattern concerns us somewhat
given that there's large gill net fleets as well as
long line fleets that are in operation in those waters.
(tractor pulls net)
- NARRATOR: And that is the most immediate threat
here on the Texas coast.
- GAME WARDEN: Unbelievable amount of sharks between
two and three thousand!
- We've got Mexican commercial fisherman
that come into U.S. waters, the most common type of species
that is being caught on this illegal gear are sharks.
(waves)
- NARRATOR: So throughout the year Game Wardens
head for the coastal border.
(siren)
- LUIS: Let me know when you can read that name Harry,
I'm gonna try and read it as well.
- NARRATOR: Checking on compliant fisherman is easy.
- Captain, you all seen any other traffic
besides yourselves out here in this area?
- CAPTAIN: No sir!
- NARRATOR: But spotting an illegal net or long line
in this immense ocean, now that's a struggle.
- LUIS: It definitely, it weighs on me,
because it is a large amount of water that
I'm trying to cover with this one vessel.
It's like looking for a needle in a hay stack!
(waves)
- NARRATOR: And you have to keep your eyes peeled day and night!
- GAME WARDEN: Here's the main line right here!
- WILL PLUMAS: We're about half a mile north of the
Mexican border, and about two and half miles off shore.
(fish flopping)
- GAME WARDEN: Big Black drum.
- These lines like this, they are undiscriminating,
they'll catch anything that'll take that bait
is gonna get caught on those circle hooks.
(music)
- WILL: These lines can be as long as
four and five miles long.
(music)
It's a shark!
- GAME WARDEN: It's a shark, go ahead and pull it up!
- WILL: And he should be just fine, he's still
very much alive.
(splash)
And that's it, we've probably picked up a mile and a half,
maybe two miles of line.
This is what we are out here to do is protect this resource.
(music)
- JUSTIN: Got the tail, got the tail!
- NARRATOR: Through protection...
...awareness
- JUSTIN: Sixteen, four!
- NARRATOR: ...and conservation, there is hope for these
wolves of the ocean.
- PERRY: Besides having inherent value as living creatures,
they're vitally important in helping maintain the
balance in the ecosystems in which they live.
- JUSTIN: Hammer!
- TECHNICIAN: Eighteen seventy!
Good tag!
- PERRY: So it's incredibly important that we do
all we can to protect them!
- The future of our shark populations literally
hangs in the balance of what we do today.
It's very important that we properly manage these species
and understand them scientifically
so they're sustainable for future generations.
- NARRATOR: Now as far as Sam Houston goes.
That Tiger Shark is alive and well as he continues
to provide crucial data.
(clapping)
- NARRATOR: As for all the other sharks in these waters,
it's up to us to make sure they are still here tomorrow.