Local Team Tags Great White Shark Pup Off of Southampton

A team of researchers from the Long Island Shark Collaboration recently became the first ever to attach a satellite tag to a great white shark pup in the Atlantic Ocean several miles offshore of Southampton.

The collaborators, Captain Greg Metzger, a Marine Science teacher at Southampton High School; David Nichols and Alec Giufurta science research students at Southampton High School; Jessica Quinlan, of the South Fork Natural History Museum; Dr. Molly Lutcavage and Dr. Tim Lam, of the Large Pelagics Research Center, School for the Environment, UMass Boston; and Tobey Curtis, of the NOAA Fisheries Service, Gloucester, MA, tagged the 4.5 foot long female shark on August 25.

Likely less than one year old, it is the smallest white shark to be electronically tagged off the US east coast.

“We’ve known for some time that the south shore of Long Island has a high concentration of juvenile white sharks, among other species” Curtis said. “This collaborative effort will hopefully start to give us new scientific insights into the activities of the sharks in this region.”

The shark was hooked by rod and reel and once secured, the team collected biological data and measurements, attached the pop-up satellite tag and a conventional NOAA Fisheries Service Cooperative Shark Tagging Program tag.

The team removed the hook and the shark swam away.

“Bringing this opportunity to the students of Southampton High School is a professional high for me” Metzger said. “Those students that are directly participating have accomplished a milestone in shark research that can never be taken away from them.”