Article Summary:

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Notes reports that this summer, as well as tagging great whites accidentally caught in commercial fisheries, the aquarium will use a different technology to try to prove if sharks seen and caught on both sides of the border are in fact part of the same population. They plan to use special acoustic tags, as used in tracking salmon, that each have a unique signal that is recorded by a receiving station as tagged animals pass it. Six sharks are to be fitted with these tags this summer.

The recent confirmation, achieved by DNA sampling, that the Californian great white has a unique genetic identity different to other great whites reinforces how crucial it is to understand these apex predator’s behavior and movements.