CHATHAM – Tags linked to satellites have been deployed by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy to track free-swimming white sharks off of Cape Cod.
Two Smart Position or Temperature Transmitting–or SPOT–tags have been mounted to the fins of sharks through a unique tool that can tag sharks swimming freely.
The conservancy says that this new method is minimally invasive, especially compared to traditional practices which call for sharks to be captured before they can be tagged.
The Tag Attachment Device, referred to as the TADpole, was developed by teams at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the AWSC was able to tag the sharks alongside the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.