The Atlantic Shark Institute
We are currently tracking quite a few spinner sharks along the east coast as part of our collaboration with Florida State University’s Coastal and Marine Laboratory (FSUCML), Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), and Florida Atlantic University (FAU).
This video gives you a front row seat to the capture, tagging and release of one of those sharks!
This research focuses on understanding how spinner sharks use food resources across their range, with emphasis on regional and seasonal variation in diet and ecological role. The project is complementary to our movement ecology study on spinner sharks. Findings will help address key knowledge gaps related to predator–prey dynamics and support ecosystem-based fisheries management and shark conservation along the U.S. Atlantic coast. The study is led by Jake Beretta, Ph.D. student at Florida State University, under the advisement of Dr. Dean Grubbs.
This video appeared on Tomas Koeck ‘s Emmy nominated film Chasing Fins that you can watch on Ocean State Media PBS and don’t forget to turn into Tomas’ newest release, Tides of Change that you catch on WSBE and PBS Passport tomorrow at 9:00PM!
research
04/19/2026
Say hello to Leah! She’s a 10 foot long common thresher shark that was tagged on August 12, 2022 by Captain Mike Theiler and our own Executive Director, Jon Dodd. We outfitted her with a 10-year acoustic tag allowing us to follow her through many years of migrations up and down the East Coast of the US. Do you see a pattern?
She loves Southern New England during the summer months and like many snow birds, she finds herself off the Carolinas and Florida in the colder winter months when waters off New England are too cold for her! 2025 data is being downloaded now from acoustic receivers up and down the East Coast and we look forward to sharing more on this beautiful shark. This thresher project is a collaboration between the Atlantic Shark Institute, Dr. Conor McManus (NOAA) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS). Big thanks to Kimmie Lavoie for these wonderful charts. Look for updates in the coming months on Leah and all of our tagged common thresher sharks! .prints
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Address
100 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA
02116