In this week's episode, we examine a surfer and great white shark encounter near shore in Southern California. We also take a look at a monumental two year study conducted by Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab that utilized drones to see how close white sharks get to people. The research, conducted by graduate student Patrick Rex, used aerial surveys of the nearshore ocean waters along 26 beaches of the Southern California coastline. Rex found that although there were always people in the water, juvenile white sharks were only seen at two “aggregation” sites. (Juvenile white sharks tend to “aggregate” in groups along the near shore before maturing and becoming more solitary individuals). LINK to Study: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286575 Beach and Shark Safety Tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyblrHgMGP0&t=4s CSULU Shark Lab: https://www.csulb.edu/shark-lab DISCLAIMER: I'm NOT a marine biologist. As with all YouTube content, I encourage independent verification of facts via official scientific and trustworthy sources. I will strive to post citations for any information I discuss here whenever possible. My goal is to use photography and drones to bring awareness to wildlife and the nature around us. I welcome collaborations with scientists to bring cinematic elements to the educational presentation. For all footage licensing inquiries please reach out directly to me via the contact form on my website. All music has been licensed for use.
