ORLEANS – The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has hired its first ever staff scientist.
Megan Winton is an experienced fisheries biologist with expertise in shark-related research.
Winton joins the Conservancy at a time when public interest in great white sharks is at an all-time high as Cape Cod communities continue to figure out how to best manage the presence of sharks in area waters.
“We’re very excited to announce the hiring of Meagan Winton as the first Scientist on Staff at the Conservancy. The Conservancy has been supporting White Shark research for the last six years and bringing a scientist on staff will allow us to expand and accelerate that work,” said Executive Director of the Cynthia Wigren.
“Meagan will continue our collaboration with the Division of Marine Fisheries. She has actually worked closely with Greg Skomal over the past couple years on the White Shark population study.”
For the past decade, Winton’s research has focused on the collection and analysis of ecological data needed to assess the status of marine populations – from ageing and reproductively staging elasmobranchs and bony fishes, to modeling satellite and acoustic tagging data, to designing and analyzing surveys used as the basis for estimating population sizes.
Winton is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where she has been developing and applying statistical methods to improve understanding of white shark and loggerhead sea turtle populations in the northwest Atlantic.
Winton says she’s thrilled to join the Conservancy at a time when there is heightened interest in great white sharks.
“I am passionate not just about scientific research but applying the best available science to inform fisheries management and conservation efforts,” said Winton.
“That’s at the heart of the Conservancy’s mission so we’re really a perfect match.”
Wigren says that Winton will be leading the Conservancy’s White Shark research, beginning this year with a focus on the movement and predation pattern of the fish.
“This year is going to expand research into the Cape Cod Bay area for field work. There have been receivers in that area but not field work conducted there. The studies that will be conducted will have tagging, so an expansion of the tagging,” Wigren explained.
“New tags will be deployed to give more information on shark movement, really trying to dive into the movement around predation. There will be a focus on some of the areas that are more of hot spots, which is off of Nauset Beach and off of Head of the Meadow [Beach].”
Public safety officials and Cape Cod beach managers have been working in the off-season on ways to improve beach safety following two shark attacks last year, including the fatal attack of a Revere man in September.
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod,com News Center
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