USCB Student Joins OCEARCH's 45th Shark Research Expedition
USCB student Liza Jones collects samples from a shark caught by OCEARCH staff. Photos by Christopher Ross, OCEARCH.
If scientists ever develop medical uses for the bacteria found on sharks, University of South Carolina Beaufort student Liza Jones will be able to say she helped them do it.
Jones is helping USCB’s Dr. Kim Ritchie study the beneficial bacteria that live on the skin, gums and other areas of white sharks. The 17-year-old from Hilton Head Island recently returned from an incredible fieldwork opportunity: she was an invited guest researcher on the 45th expedition of OCEARCH, a data-centric organization that tags and tracks sharks, whales and turtles globally. Jones joined a team of scientists from many academic institutions on a 10-day leg of an expedition off the coast of North Carolina, near the Outer Banks.
“I had never been away from home for this long where I knew no one. I was nervous and so were my parents. But I’m good at adapting to new situations so it wound up being an exhilarating experience. To live and work with the OCEARCH team was absolutely incredible,” Jones said.
Since 2012, OCEARCH staff scientists and master fishermen have tagged 88 Atlantic white sharks to collect data about their health, reproductive behavior and migratory patterns. The team is on the verge of achieving its target of tagging 100 sharks and tracking them online.
Jones said everyone aboard the OCEARCH vessel worked with remarkable speed to install satellite tags and collect samples from the four white sharks they caught during the April 17-May 4 voyage. The researchers are only permitted to keep the sharks out of the water for 15 minutes. In a matter of minutes, members of 24 different scientific projects — including Jones—tagged, extracted blood samples, swabbed different areas, and conducted ultrasounds, all while each shark was awake and unsedated. The OCEARCH staff keeps the sharks comfortable by pumping seawater through the gills while the animal is on board. The OCEARCH boat is a 126-foot former crabbing vessel outfitted with a lift that raised the shark, after it latches on to bait attached to buoys, to the level of the boat’s deck.
Jones plated her samples in petri dishes and tracked the growth of bacteria colonies. Ritchie will use Jones’ samples and analysis in her long-term study about beneficial bacteria on the skin of sharks, rays and skates, and their potential as a source for new antibiotics. Ritchie’s study is funded by the Port Royal Sound Foundation and other sources.
Sharks heal their wounds quickly and rarely get skin infections. At a time of rising resistance to current antibiotics, Ritchie and other researchers are interested in possible applications for new antibiotics for humans. Data and findings collected by OCEARCH are open-sourced and often used by public safety programs and in medical research for shark bite victims.
Jones, who is a research assistant in Dr. Ritchie’s lab, said she is grateful that Ritchie recommended her for the OCEARCH voyage, which enjoyed calm seas and temperatures in the 70s every day.
“I was expecting to be nervous about being so far offshore for an extended period, but I was very comfortable in the collaborative and stimulating environment that OCEARCH created on the ship,” Jones said. “And I didn’t get seasick, which was nice."
The OCEARCH staff and guest researchers work quickly to collect samples from each shark and return it to the ocean in less than 15 minutes.
CBS News featured OCEARCH’s expedition in a recent article and will air the story on CBS Evening News on May 25 as part of their "Eye on America" series: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/great-white-shark-mating-mystery-scientists/
Follow sharks and other sea creatures tagged by OCEARCH at ocearch.org
