Shark Ecology & Population Studies

Sharks are one of the top predators of almost all marine environments; they have played a major role in driving the evolution of many of the other fishes and marine life. But today shark species around the globe are heavily threatened due to over-fishing. In this course you will learn more about the shark species of the world, as well as get the skills and practice monitoring shark populations and contributing to national and internal databases.

Prerequisites

  • Be 12 years of age or older
  • Be a competent swimmer if performing the course snorkelling
  • Be certified as an Advanced diver under a leading diving organization (PADI, SSI, RAID, etc) or an Open Water diver who has satisfactorily completed a buoyancy appraisal with a professional diver
  • Demonstrate proper diving ability at an advanced Level and be proficient in buoyancy and self-awareness

Standards

  • Understand the importance of sharks in the marine ecosystem, global and local threats to shark populations, and shark identification.
  • Learn how to survey for sharks and the various methods available to estimate abundance and diversity.
  • Practice surveying for sharks while snorkeling or diving and record data on the sharks observed
  • Know how to enter data into the Conservation Diver database and also partners such as SharkTrust.org and the eShark Project.

Requirements

  • Attend 1 lecture on Shark Ecology and Population Studies
  • Perform a dive OR snorkel to observe sharks
  • Record data on shark observations
  • Enter data into Conservation Diver and partner databases

Expected course time about 5 hours.

Certification Card

Training Centers

Citizen Science Collaborators