Shark Tagging with Experience Aviation

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by Gabi Goodrich, RJD Intern

1/20/2013

My alarm sounded promptly at 5 am. Coffee deprived and still half asleep, I got in the car with Meg and made my way to Islamorada. As I began waking up, my sleepiness was replaced with excitement; I was going to shark tag today. It was my first day as an RJD intern and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I had done this before, or something similar to it, in the Gulf.

Before I knew it, we pulled up to the house. Meg and I walked around to find everyone setting up on the boat. The boat itself was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. When I shark tagged in the Gulf, we went out on a single engine old research boat. This boat was bigger with a full cabin. Suddenly, I was greeted by a smiling Virginia. Before I had a chance to meet anyone else, I was loading the equipment we would use to catch the sharks on the boat. One after another, we hauled ten floats tied with long line to weights on the boat, then we loaded the research equipment itself. It was finally sinking in that this wasn’t going to be like what I had done before. Eventually everything was loaded on the boat and I finally got a chance to meet the rest of the crew. I was happy to find out that I was not the only new person on the boat. Most of us would be learning the ropes
together.

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Shark tagging with Gulliver Schools

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by Stacy Assael, RJD Intern

Today the RJD team welcomed our first shark of 2013, a large male nurse shark! Upon leaving for today’s trip we were not sure if we would even catch anything. Although Captain Curt always delivers, everyone was a little apprehensive about his decision to fish at a brand new site rather than the very fruitful Middle Grounds.  After about a 30min ride out, we arrived.

Drumlines ready to be deployed

Drumlines ready to be deployed

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Shark tagging with Aimia

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By Megan Piechowski, RJD Intern

11/2/12

My excitement for this trip grew all weekend through my 3 back to back trips Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I knew this Sunday trip would sadly be my last for the semester, and planned to make the best of it. It was a RJD packed weekend, including attending a fellow RJD teammate, Austin Gallagher’s exciting event: Beneath the Waves Film Fest the night before our trip. Through 2 previous days of fishing in the same general location near Stiltsville off Key Biscayne, I anticipated it to be a great day. By the end of the day I was sure it was one of the top three trips I’ve ever been on. Due to some time constraints on Sunday we had planned to deploy only half of the amount of lines. Austin brought 2 accelerometers that day, which are used to collect data of how the shark is fighting the line after being hooked. Fortunately, the second line we pulled in that day was a great use of this technology as it had the biggest bull shark I’ve ever seen on the other end. After securing this beautifully massive fish a satellite tag was attached to its dorsal fin, and it was safely released back into the waters of South Florida.

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Shark Tagging With UM Alumni and Friends

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by Kyra Hartog, RJD Intern

Saturday was a bittersweet day for me. While I was very excited to have one more shark tagging trip before finals, I started to realize that it was my last trip until August 2013, as I will be studying abroad in the spring. I was determined to enjoy the day to the fullest and had my fingers crossed for sharks. This trip was a change for the team as the R/V Endsley would leave from Virginia Key to set out lines around the end of Key Biscayne, near Bill Baggs State Park. Our group for the day was a mixture of UM alums and friends of the Rosenstiel School. We set off toward out sampling site and set the first 10 drumlines in minor sun showers. Luckily, the rain cleared out and the weather was beautiful for the rest of the day. Our first shark of the day was a beautiful nurse shark. The team quickly secured the shark and brought in the guests to assist in sampling of the nurse shark. Measurements were taken, as well as a fin sample and a blood sample. The nurse shark was tagged with a spaghetti tag and sent on its way. As lines were reset, we enjoyed a delicious catered lunch courtesy of Sidewalk Salads, thanks to the RSMAS Advancement Office! Read more

Shark tagging with the American Heritage school

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by Becca Shelton, RJD Intern

11/17/12

I was really excited for the RJD shark trip with American Heritage for three reasons. First, this was my last trip of the year with the RJD crew and Captain Curt. While it was a sad thought, the anticipation of the trip was more exhilarating because it was going to be my last trip for over a month and my expectations were high. Second, we went sampling at Hawk’s Channel where we had caught an adult Tiger shark two weeks in a row! Not only that, but the week before in the same area, we also caught a total of 9 sharks of varying species! And last but not least, I was going to spend the day in the Keys, shark tagging with some of my favorite people and the weather was perfect. It was shaping up to be a great last day on the water.

After casting off, we began with our routine of everyone introducing themselves and explaining the science and importance behind the trip. The high school students from American Heritage were enthusiastic and ready to help. A few even did some cheers on the deck for good luck! We set out our first 10 drumlines and waited with anticipation to see what we would catch. Read more

Shark tagging with South Broward High School

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by Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern
11/11/12

It was going to be another day of shark tagging and I was too excited. After the last trip with no sharks, all I could hope for was for this day to be different. As usual, I woke up at 4:30am and began my long drive down to the keys, picking up Christine and Emily along the way. We had a pleasant drive down with a beautiful sunrise for company.

Once we got to Curt’s house, we met with the rest of the RJD crew, David, Stacey, Austin, Kyra, Evan and our fear less trip leader, Leann. Most of the gear was on the boat but we still had to some last minute preparations to make, such as making more gangions and getting a few more supplies.

Soon after, the students from South Broward High School got to the boat and right away I recognized a lot of familiar faces.  We did our usual introductions and then had a long ride out to the site. We went to Middle Grounds in the Everglades which was very exciting; last time I had been there we had caught eight sharks, and had also found the “bull shark lair”

Once we got there we deployed our drumlines. Something especially important was that we had new goodies: a brand new accelerometer that we were testing for the first time. After an hour of waiting, some amazing lunch and an overview of what we were going to do if we caught sharks, we went back to pick up our first drumline.

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Shark Tagging with Breakthrough Miami

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by Laurel Zaima, RJD Intern
Saturday, November 10th, 2012

After all of the late nights studying for my tests, and quizzes, Saturday could not have come fast enough! Before I knew it, the count down was finally over and I was driving down to Islamorada with Christine. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Captain Curt’s house, the weather was looking a little grim and the wind just began to pick up. Regardless of the weather, everyone remained optimistic! Captain Curt informed us that we would be going to a shallow site that was approximately 15-22 feet  in hopes that the water would be less choppy. Little did we know, we underestimated the power of the waves.

As we waited for our guests to arrive, we each predicted which species of shark we were going to encounter that day. Although there was a little discrepancy about what we were going to catch, we all agreed that this shark tagging expedition had good vibes. Fortunately, we were correct, and the student group was able to have a great educational and hands on experience. We went out with a group that is apart of a program called Breakthrough Miami. This program assists low income and disadvantaged students and their families that reside in the Dade County. The students of the Breakthrough Miami program are taught, supervised, and mentored by high school student volunteers from Palmer Trinity School (grades 6-12). We hosted 15 middle schools students, 3 high school mentors, and the program’s chaperones on Saturday’s trip. We were thrilled to be hosting this program because Leann Winn, one of the RJD trip leaders, is a teacher at Palmer Trinity School, and she raved about how wonderful and intelligent these students are.

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Shark tagging with Trinity Prep

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by Fiona Graham, RJD intern
November 3rd, 2012

It is always exciting to have something remarkable to report after a trip, and this was one of those trips. Jumping right into the highlights of the day, not only did we get one tiger shark, but two! Our original plan was to spend the day at the reef in deep water, however the current proved to be too strong for our drumlines and so we needed to move on. We then headed to Hawks Channel, and boy were we glad we did! We typically tend to catch a lot of nurse sharks at this site, and true to form we did get one feisty nurse.

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Shark Tagging with South Broward High School

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10/28/12
By Jon Dorsey, RJD Intern

Today the RJD crew met at the dock nice and early to welcome our shipmates from South Broward High School and special guest Steve Cooke. Despite the long bus ride and early arrival time, the Reef Dogs were in high spirits once they arrived on the dock and boarded Captain Curt’s boat. We had a long trip ahead of ourselves to a site named the Middle Grounds in Everglades National Park, but without the blazing sun beating on us and the cooler weather coming in, it was more than enjoyable.

Anticipation was high as we anxiously pulled in 6 empty lines, but of course on lucky number 7 the timer was popped! Leann did a great job pulling the Lemon Shark up onto the platform and the team immediately went to work. The students took turns collecting data and measurements for the team and before we let the little guy go we got the opportunity to sneak in some pictures.

The crew bring the final lemon shark of the day on deck to pose for a group shot.

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No shoes, no service: Shark tagging with the MAST Academy

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by Stacy Assael, RJD Intern
October 14th, 2012

Today the RJD team and I had the pleasure of fishing with Miami’s own MAST Academy, and the one and only Greg Markham. Expectations were high as we set out to the same spot from the day before where we caught 5 sharks. We were heavily staffed so the ride out to “Curt 1” (Captain Curt’s top secret fishing spot in Everglades National Park) went smoothly as bait crates and drumlines were prepped in record time.

Time to Fish. Upon arrival at our fishing site we deployed our first ten lines. I looked at my watch, it had taken all of 15minutes to deploy two sets of gear (Note: 1 set=5 drumlines). This left us with plenty of time to enjoy our 10:30am …lunch ?

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