Shark monitoring system that pings California lifeguards is in trouble

Here’s something Californians may not know: When great white sharks come within about 100 yards of certain state beaches, lifeguards receive a text alert.

A California State program in Long Beach developed this unique system about six years ago, and hundreds of juvenile white sharks have since been tagged for monitoring purposes.

But the program risks stopping due to lack of public funding.

The Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach received $3.75 million in state funding in 2018 to establish the program, which tracks juvenile white sharks along the California coast. Researchers hoped this monitoring would increase beach safety and help the public better understand sea creatures.

The money allowed researchers to tag 300 juvenile sharks – about 235 are actively monitored – and send data on their locations and habits to lifeguards at beaches stretching from Morro Bay to the Mexican border, Chris Lowe said , professor of marine biology and director. from Shark Lab.

The team first tracked the sharks using 120 underwater acoustic receivers placed about 100 meters from the beach. Divers collected data from the receivers about once a month and sent it to rescuers. At this point, the information was generally out of date.

Over the years, the program has added tracking buoys, “which provide real-time data to rescuers,” Lowe said. “So now, when a tagged shark swims near one of these buoys… it sends a text alert to the rescuers. Then they can click on that text alert, it takes them to a website, and they can then learn everything about this shark: how big is it, where was it, what beaches did it visit, how long has it been at their beach?”

The technology serves less as an “early warning system” and more as a scientific tool to help lifeguards “better manage beaches,” Lowe added.

The funding was supposed to last five years for the research team, Lowe said, but he was able to extend the money for another year. The team of 15, including paid students, operates on a budget of about $1 million a year.

Lowe said he has discussed with state lawmakers the possibility of allocating funds to continue the program over the next few years. But the state’s dire budget outlook has halted additional spending amid a projected deficit of at least $38 billion.

The office of State Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) said she is aware that Cal State campuses are facing funding issues and that the Shark Lab alert system ” also appears to be facing financial deficits.”

Gonzalez’s office did not say whether the senator would push for the lab to be funded in the state budget.

Assemblyman Josh Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) is also aware of the problem. His chief of staff, Guy Strahl, said the office submitted a budget request for the program last year but failed to secure more money. Strahl said Lowe did not request another round of funding this year and the program was not included in this year’s funding requests for the Cal State system or the Long Beach campus.

Without a $7 million infusion to continue the program, scientific progress could stagnate, Lowe fears. He added that for the program to survive, the lab would need to find private funding or foundations until the state budget recovers.

The tracking has bolstered drone research that shows how often surfers and other swimmers share water with sharks — mostly without incident. This has helped dispel misconceptions that sharks are always dangerous and that beaches should be closed when they are nearby.

Lowe said the data collection process has saved coastal communities millions of dollars each year because beaches remain open more often, even when lifeguards receive alerts of sharks in the water.

Additionally, researchers are beginning to understand why sharks flock to certain beaches and what their food supply reveals about the marine ecosystem as a whole.

“This information is valuable not only to rescuers but also to the public,” Lowe said. “Because they’re starting to understand better what sharks do and why they’re not as big a risk as we thought.”

During that time, the research effort has become a major attraction and recruiting tool for prospective students interested in studying marine biology at Cal State Long Beach.

New funding would help the team tag more sharks and improve transmitters, Lowe said, while continuing to educate the public about marine conservation and shark habits.

“When shark incidents happen, and they will continue to happen – shark bites will always happen – people will understand the rarity of these circumstances,” he said. “If we can’t implement these kinds of programs in California, I don’t know where we could. »