'TechKnow' Q&A: Biologist Marita Davison on tracking leopard sharks

TechKnow: Tell us about your most recent story for “TechKnow.”
Marita Davison: This story is about how marine biologists are using an underwater robot to track shark movements and environmental conditions in the open ocean.

TK: What will the robot do?
MD: It’s really cool because to date, the traditional ways of tracking sharks are really limited to tagging sharks and then following their movements and getting very simple measurements of what’s going on. With this robot—it’s a submersible torpedo, almost, that will talk to the tags and follow the shark. But at the same time it will be taking environmental measurements of things like salinity and temperature in real time to understand not only where the sharks are, but what the environmental conditions are like where they’re at. They’re hopefully going to get at some shark behavior as well.

TK: What role do sharks play in the food chain or understanding marine biology more generally?
MD: Sharks are considered in some ways to be canaries in the coal mine. They’re indicators, on some level, of ocean health, particularly where they’re at. This is because they’re the top predators, they’re at the very very top of the food chain, which means that if there’s anything that’s changing shark populations and shark densities, that kind of an impact can cascade really quickly. It can trickle down to the rest of the food web—and that will affect fish, that will affect algae, that will affect invertebrates, all sorts of different components of the food web that are not just important for the ocean but are important for us. We depend on fisheries as well.

TK: Where did you shoot this story?
MD: From Los Angeles, we took a ferry ride of about an hour and a half to Catalina Island and ferried over then to Wrigley Marine Science Center. I met up with Chris Lowe, who is part of the SharkLab at Cal State Long Beach. He took me snorkeling in a cove with leopard sharks and in the area that I was at, there were about 25 or so, just kind of doing their thing, swimming around. I was right there with them, which was super duper cool. Then, we basically did a walkthrough of this submersible robot that they are using to track the sharks. They’re prototyping it right now. They’re eventually hoping to scale it up both in numbers and in the organisms that they’re tracking—and they’re hoping to eventually use this for great whites.

TK: Have you ever done underwater research before?
MD: I’ve done aquatic research before, I haven’t done marine research. Marine relates specifically to the ocean so [you’re in] saltwater environments. I’ve done aquatic research, which is research related to the the water, but I’ve mostly focused on environments [that are] lakes, not oceans. I’ve studied flamingoes that live in these hyper-saline lake environments that [have] much more saline than the ocean. I’ve done some underwater shooting too, in some really cool lakes in Africa. But this tops any kind of experiences that I’ve had in the water with wildlife. It was pretty darn cool.

TK: Take us through how the underwater part worked.
MD: I was really hoping that I’d get to scuba, and I realized quickly why that wasn’t really an option. We were in a cove that was fairly shallow, and the leopard sharks are pretty skittish, so scuba would have really disturbed them. So we were snorkeling, just skimming the surface, but the water clarity was incredible. They’re aware of your presence very quickly, so they kind of move away, but as soon as you calm down and you’re not disturbing them, they’ll come back. For me, it was such a cool experience just because, I mean, they’re sharks, right? And what’s not cool about sharks? I was a little nervous at first, and then I learned leopard sharks are totally harmless to humans. But it was just a real peaceful experience, just floating on the water, making your way through, and then you see these remarkable creatures. They look almost prehistoric, like they belong in the Jurassic age. Very sleek, very beautiful. Leopard sharks have incredible markings on their body and it was a beautiful day, so the light was beaming through the water and shining off their skin, the dermal denticles. As far as wildlife experiences go, it’s at the very top of my list.

TK: Have you ever encountered sharks in the ocean before?
MD: I love to scuba, and yeah, how can you not, when you’re scuba diving in the ocean? I think there are very few people who would say, “You know what, I’m not worried about sharks.” I’m kind of always looking around when I’m scuba diving, but this was the most hands-on experience I’ve ever had with sharks.

TK: What’s your take on the technology being used?
MD: I think what’s interesting about what they’re doing is that this submersible technology is not necessarily new. There have been applications of it for the military and other types of research. But it’s really new for marine science and behavioral science in that, for the first time now, these scientists are able to not just track the sharks, but start to understand what’s happening in the sharks' immediate environment and correlate that to behavioral patterns. It’s basically like having this supercomputer underwater, beaming all this information back to you that really helps you understand what’s going on in what I consider to be one of the last frontiers in terms of understanding the planet.

TK: Who invented this submersible robot?
MD: Surprisingly enough, they buy the robot itself off the shelf. You can buy this on the market, if you have the money. What’s unique about the ones that they’re using is that they’ve customized them to suit their purposes. They've opened it up, they’ve taken out some of the guts and they’ve put in other sensors, a new computer, a hub for it as well. So they didn’t invent the robot, they didn’t invent the technology itself, but they’re customizing it and kind of reinventing the way it’s being used.

TK: If sharks are the canaries in the coal mine, what’s it looking like down there?
MD: Overall, the population status of sharks worldwide is of concern. But at least these guys were painting a little bit more of a rosy picture for certain sharks, saying that they’re starting to rebound and that is a result of regulations starting from the ’60s and ’70s. Actions and regulations that we put in place are starting to have an impact and starting to show a positive effect on shark populations. Now with the adoption of marine protected areas, hopefully that kind of trend will continue.

TK: What is the biggest threat to sharks?
MD: We are. Humans are the biggest threat to sharks, hands down. Sharks are often caught as what’s called by-catch in fisheries. So, fishermen will go out, and they’ll be targeting other fish, but because they’ve got these certain kinds of nets, they’ll catch all sorts of other things, including sharks, including turtles. Bycatch is a big issue for some of these large marine organisms. Often times, those organisms, the bycatch, will just die or they’ll get chucked. So that’s a big issue. There are certain traditional and medicinal and more cultural beliefs around sharks and the potency of sharks, whether it’s medicinal purposes or some sort of spiritual purpose, that have made it so that sharks are targeted specifically for those things.

TK: What about this story has stuck with you after the shooting ended?
MD: To me, the biggest question mark is whether or not they can take this to scale. It’s a really cool technology. I think it provides an interesting window to the ocean and we’re still starting to understand how these ocean processes work. But it’s an expensive technology. Right now, they’re running between $50,000 and upwards to $200,000. I mean, it’s all well and good to have one or two of these out, but these guys want to have thousands of them. So, whether or not they can take it to scale in a sustainable way that is cost-effective is the biggest question mark to me. Because I think it will provide a really interesting view. They talk about this 3D view of the ocean, but there needs to be the funding there to back that up.

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