Exploring sharks, after dark

From Andy Dehart, Director of Biological Programs at the National Aquarium, DC

Shark Week 2009 kicks off this Sunday at 9:00 EST on Discovery Channel! I am wrapping up a frenzied media tour that has enabled me to talk to  television networks, radio stations, and newspapers around the country about how important sharks are to our oceans and the threats they face, as well as the Shark Conservation Act of 2009. Tonight we will be talking with Larry King live in Los Angeles to dispel many of the myths surrounding sharks and shark attacks. Throughout the next week I will be on the CBS Early show which will be covering Shark Week every day.

One of the questions I am often asked throughout these interviews is, what is my favorite experience with sharks. In all honesty, every encounter I have had with sharks has been incredibly special to me. I have had the good fortune to be able to dive with over 40 species of sharks in my career and each experience has been unique. My hope is that all of these species will be around for future generations to enjoy as I have.

S.O.S., save our sharks

From Andy Dehart, Director of Biological Programs in Washington, DC

This weekend is Shark Weekend at the National Aquarium’s DC venue. We are celebrating sharks and teaching visitors more about these fascinating animals. In my last blog post, I mentioned that some species of sharks have decreased by nearly 90% in just the last 20 years. Before I explain why that is happening, let me ask a question: What do the following have in common:  driving to the beach, dogs, lightning, pigs, and falling coconuts? 

Well, all of these kill more people per year than sharks.  Last year there were only 59 unprovoked shark attacks with only 4 fatalities worldwide.  This is a decrease from the 71 the year before and a continued drop from the year 2000 despite continued population growth and beach attendance.  Clearly we have very little to fear from sharks.

Sharks, however, can not say the same about their risk from mankind.  Each day roughly 250,000 sharks are killed through targeted fisheries and as bycatch.  Many sharks are slow to mature and have very few young compared to other fish.  Some species, such as the sandbar shark which we have in our Open Ocean exhibit at our Baltimore venue, can take up to 10-14 years to mature and only have 1-14 young every other year after a 9 month gestation.  To top it off, many of the habitats these sharks are using as nursery areas are becoming overdeveloped leading to habitat loss and polluted waters.

A life with sharks

From Andy Dehart, Director of Biological Programs in Washington, DC
 
If you are a shark fan like me, you probably already know that Discovery Channel’s SHARK WEEK is just around the corner! Now that I have the great privilege of having two wonderfully rewarding jobs with the National Aquarium and the Discovery Channel, Shark Week is becoming a year round affair for me. 

I have worked for the National Aquarium in numerous capacities – from selling tickets in admissions to my current role at our newly renovated DC venue – for nearly 17 years.  Sharks have always been my passion.  For me it started when I was only five years old when I got to see a 6 foot long Caribbean reef shark while snorkeling with my father in the Florida Keys.  Pardon the pun, but I was hooked and have followed the dream of working with sharks ever since.
 
Throughout  my career I have dabbled in media and when the unfortunate and extremely rare cases of mistaken identity rolled around and a bather or surfer was attacked by a shark, I have been called upon by the media to answer questions about shark attacks.  In 2003 I got the chance to work on my first Shark Week show, Sharks Under Glass, about sharks in public aquariums. Last year I was approached by Discovery Channel to sign on as their Shark Advisor, which meant reviewing show and online content, contributing to online content and doing television and print interviews.

Sharks continue to fascinate experts

It was recently confirmed that a female blacktip shark from the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach carried a shark pup with no genetic material from a male shark. This is the second case in which scientists have used DNA testing to verify a ”virgin birth” of a shark,  the first was reported from a bonnethead shark in Omaha, Nebraska. Shark experts at the National Aquarium are familiar with the studies, but are still very intrigued with the findings.

Fishes Research Specialist at the National Aquarium, Alan Henningsen, believes that this type of birth could be more common in the wild then once thought, and could be in response to declining populations and the reduced encounters with mates. However, these theories are not testable in the wild.

Another of our shark experts, Andy Dehart, agrees with others in saying that this finding will not be a fix for the falling shark population. In both cases of parthenogenesis in aquariums there was only one pup. Bonnethead liters are usually 6-8 pups and blacktips generally have 2-4 pups. It is likely these events happened as a survival instinct due to the lack of a male, but even in extreme cases if this were happening in the wild it would not be a successful way for shark populations to reestablish themselves. 

Busting Myths!

From Andy Dehart, Director of Biological Programs at the National Aquarium in DC and Discovery Channel Shark Advisor

Shark Week is finally here! No one loves Shark Week more than I do. I have been fascinated with sharks since my first sighting at just 5 years old when  I was scuba diving with my dad. I have had the opportunity to study sharks for most of my career, and have had many close and personal encounters with these perfect predators. However, sharks continue to amaze me each and every day.

For the last 21 years Discovery Channel’s Shark Week has featured programming that aims to teach people that we don’t have much to fear in sharks. Unfortunately, our fascination with sharks seems to be tied too closely with fear.

I encourage people to tune into Shark Week to learn more about sharks, how they rule the marine ecosystem and yet, are being threatened by man. Catch a special edition of Mythbusters tonight at 8 pm EST. For now, I’d like to leave you with a mythbusters of my own…