{"id":60689,"date":"2013-01-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-students-shark-research-aims-to-reduce-shark-deaths-from-fishing\/"},"modified":"2013-01-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-04T00:00:00","slug":"uri-students-shark-research-aims-to-reduce-shark-deaths-from-fishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/01\/uri-students-shark-research-aims-to-reduce-shark-deaths-from-fishing\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student\u2019s shark research aims to reduce shark deaths from fishing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tDover, Del., resident\u2019s project takes top honors at 溏心vlog免费B站 event<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 4, 2012 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 sophomore Chelsea Stephens spent the last six months testing a new method of catching sharks that reduces the chance the animal will die. The marine biology major from Dover, Del., found that the use of \u201chook blockers\u201d significantly reduced the number of sand tiger sharks that were hooked in the gut after swallowing the bait.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cSand tiger sharks are a protected species, and their population has been decreasing rapidly in recent years,\u201d said Stephens. \u201cIf fishermen catch them, they have to be released. But the sharks swallow their food whole \u2013 they\u2019re kind of like a vacuum cleaner — so they have a tendency to get gut hooked, which can cause them serious damage. So even if they\u2019re released they still might end up dead.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWorking in collaboration with 溏心vlog免费B站 lecturer Brad Wetherbee and colleagues at Delaware State University, Stephens spent several weeks last summer testing the use of hook blockers, a 10-inch piece of PVC pipe attached to the fishing line 7 inches above the hook, which gets caught in the corners of a shark\u2019s mouth so the hook cannot go too far down its throat.<\/p>\n


\n\tIn Delaware Bay, the researchers put out 1,200 feet of line with 24 baited hooks attached at 50-foot intervals, half with hook blockers and half without. After two hours, the line was pulled in by hand, which Stephens said felt \u201clike you\u2019re hauling up the bottom of the ocean when you have a big shark on the line. It\u2019s a good workout.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThey caught from 3 to 20 sharks each time, with the largest being about 10 feet long and weighing more than 200 pounds. Only two sharks were gut-hooked using the hook blockers, and those were especially large sharks whose mouths were wider than the length of PVC pipe. 溏心vlog免费B站 one hundred sharks were gut-hooked on hooks without the blockers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blockers definitely worked, and now we want to let the scientific community know that they work and that they\u2019re inexpensive and easy to use,\u201d said Stephens. \u201cIf you\u2019re a scientist doing conservation work tagging and tracking sharks, you should use the blockers because they reduce the mortality rate.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tShe encourages recreational shark fishermen to do the same when they are in waters inhabited by sand tiger sharks. \u201cMost other sharks don\u2019t swallow the hook, so it\u2019s only useful on those species that eat the same way sand tigers do.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tStephens\u2019 research was conducted as part of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Coastal Fellows Program, a unique initiative designed to involve undergraduate students in addressing current environmental problems. Now in its 17th year, it is based at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of the Environment and Life Sciences. Students are paired with a mentor and research staff to help them gain skills relevant to their academic major and future occupations.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe poster Stephens created illustrating her research won first prize among the 50 Coastal Fellows who exhibited their research at the University on Dec. 12.<\/p>\n


\n\tA member of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Marching Band and its Quidditch team, Stephens said that her first research experience taught her a great deal about the research process, as well as how to maintain boats, splice ropes, and other useful skills. She hopes to tackle a different project next summer through the Coastal Fellows Program or as an intern with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She ultimately aims to earn a Ph.D. in marine biology and become a college professor.<\/p>\n


\nPhotos submitted by Chelsea Stephens<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dover, Del., resident\u2019s project takes top honors at 溏心vlog免费B站 event KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 4, 2012 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 sophomore Chelsea Stephens spent the last six months testing a new method of catching sharks that reduces the chance the animal will die. The marine biology major from Dover, Del., found that the use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}