1) We published “Evolved for extinction: the cost and conservation implications of specialization in hammerhead sharks,” a review of hammerhead biology and conservation that was featured on the cover of BioScience! Read it here: 2) We led 65 shark research trips, including two trips to our Tiger Beach research site in the Bahamas! 3) We published […]
By Alice Schreiber, RJD Intern As fish stocks continue to decline, Marine Protected Areas are becoming increasingly popular methods of conserving marine habitats and preserving species. The success of these areas depends upon the existing legal framework, acceptance by the community, and an effective management system [1]. Being aware of how fishermen socially perceive MPAs […]
By Laurel Zaima, RJD Intern ABSTRACT Commercial shrimp fisheries’ main objective is to maximize their target catch in order to make the most profit. Commercial shrimp fisheries satisfy this goal by the utilization of trawl nets. Trawling is a very destructive form of fishing, and unfortunately, does not take into consideration ecological consequences. Trawling, by […]
By James Keegan, RJD Intern The ocean remains an immense resource for humanity, providing food, economic activity, and cultural roots for many. Although these resources are valuable, it is difficult to effectively protect them because our knowledge of marine ecosystems is lacking. To correct this insufficient understanding of the marine environment, Parsons et al. 2014 […]
By Daniela Ferraro, RJD Intern On Saturday, December 6th, RJD embarked on a shark-tagging trip with a wonderful group of students from MAST Academy. Right before finals, this trip couldn’t have come any sooner. I woke up early to absolutely beautiful weather and knew the day was going to be a great one. I grabbed […]
By Alison Enchelmaier, RJD Intern This trip couldn’t have come sooner. I’d been in my office for far too long and a tagging trip was long over due. Before the sun began to rise Sam and I piled into the car and headed to West Palm Beach. We met the rest of the team at […]
By Lindsay Jennings, RJD Intern The issue of illegal fishing has, deservedly, been getting international attention recently but it should be noted that this ‘great ocean heist’ is not a new phenomenon. For far too long fishing boats have been misreporting or underreporting their catches. There simply are not enough fish for these boats to […]
By Gabi Goodrich, RJD Intern Ancient people worshipped, prayed, and sacrificed to the ocean for the powers of healing and power it possessed. While the mentality has changed, the influence over people and medicine today has not. With more and more focus on disease and sickness, the search for new and better medicines are an […]
By Daniela Escontrela, RJD Intern A topic of concern in the past few years has been noise pollution in the ocean. Particularly, noise pollution has been thought to affect marine mammal populations since they are so reliant on acoustics for navigation and communication (Erbe 2011). Marine mammals are of special conservation concern because they have […]
By Hannah Calich, RJD Graduate Student Last Friday was a great day of shark tagging. Not only did the RJD team get to spend the day with the fabulous students and teachers from SLAM academy, but the day was documented by a CBS film crew! The RJD team met at Crandon Marina at 8 am […]