FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, February 24, 2017 – Last year Eric Paul-Hus, Senior Vice President at Hypower, named a Mako Shark to support Nova Southeastern University’s Guy Harvey Research Institute initiative. NSU’s goal is to tag sharks with satellite devices which transmit extensive information to their researchers every day.
Hypower, a female mako shark, tagged off Ocean City in the spring, followed Delmarva snowbirds and appeared recently off South Florida.
Hypower was tagged 142 days ago, and has traveled 5,000 miles during that time and is now swimming in the Atlantic off the coast of South Florida. Follow the travels at http://cnso.nova.edu/sharktracking/ (choose W. North Atlantic Mako Shark project/Hypower).
Makos are tagged annually in the spring off the coast of Ocean City.
“It is an honor for Hypower to be able to contribute to this great initiative. We wish the Hypower Mako Shark more great travels.”, said Eric Paul-Hus.
“We’ve seen some of our tagged makos take incredibly long trips way out into the deep Atlantic Ocean, but this is the first one tagged off Maryland coming to south Florida waters,” said Mahmood Shivji, a research scientist at NSU’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography and director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute.”We’re constantly learning new things from these animals, and this information is vital if we’re to work to protect and conserve them for generations to come.”
The tags are funded by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, a nonprofit organization that conducts scientific research and hosts educational programs aimed at conserving the marine environment.
“It’s great that we have one of our Makos visiting us here in South Florida,” said Greg Jacoski, executive director of the foundation.
“We’ve had a few firsts this year with our tagged Makos. With Hypower, it is the first time a Mako swam a route down to South Florida. Then earlier this year we had our Hells Bay Mako break a record, traveling more than 13,000 miles in 600 days. This is important information for us as we continue with our research because unfortunately, about 22 percent of the makos that are tagged are caught or killed by commercial or recreation fishermen.”
The closest relative to the great white shark, makos are the cheetahs of the shark species. As the fastest species of sharks, makos can swim up to 60 mph.
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You can read the article in Miami Herald here
