Great White Shark Birthing Site Found In The North Atlantic

Ocearch, an ocean research organization, has made an astounding discovery in the North Atlantic. Somewhere near Montauk, Long Island, a group of fishermen and scientists from Ocearch found the great white sharks birthing site.

CBS was able to get a hold of Ocearch's founding Chairman, Chris Fischer. According to Fischer, finding the nursery and likely the great white sharks birthing site is probably the most significant discovery they have ever made on the ocean.

The great white sharks birthing site is "the holy grail of the research," Fischer added.

Being able to discover the great white sharks birthing site is not just beneficial for the knowledge of the people, finding the nursery where they give birth and raise their offspring in the North Atlantic gives Ocearch and other organizations the chance to protect them. Great white sharks are already considered extinct, and there are organizations whose primary duty is to prevent them from being captured.

As described by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, these iconic animals are vulnerable especially when they give birth to their young. Harley Newton, a veterinay pahologist, stressed the importance of finding the great white sharks birthing site. "Because this is a really unique population of animals. I mean it's a life stage that really hasn't been studied very much." Newton explains.

In the last decade, Ocearch has been putting tags on great white sharks' dorsal fins to track them. A satellite will get a ping as soon as they surface. In August, the organization tagged Hampton and Montauk - a male and female shark around 42-50 pounds. Ocearch was able to collect tissue and blood samples from them in order to determine their sex and measure them as well.  

Ocearch shares the first shark tagged in 2012 was named Mary Lee, and she has already traveled over 34,000 miles since then. Mary Lee is 16 feet long and she weighed 3,456 pounds. The most recent ping from Mary Lee was off the coast of the Carolinas.

 

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