Great white shark fans can now keep tabs on some of the apex predators' whereabouts and movements, thanks to what's billed as the world's first smartphone application designed to track white sharks in real time. They can also learn more about sharks of the Pacific via different features on the "Expedition Great White" app, designed by scientists at the Marine Conservation Science Institute in Fallbrook, Calif., and launched this week.
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Proceeds for the $3.99 app will fund research. It's currently available for iPhones and iPads, and will soon be available for android phones, according to Michael Domeier, president and executive director of MCSI.
Domeier's team has tagged and tracked several white sharks, mostly during their seasonal stays at Guadalupe Island west of Baja California, Mexico, in an attempt to learn more about migration patterns and habits.
"An important aspect of our satellite tracking research is to identify the regions of the great white shark's geographic range where the sharks may be threatened," the scientist explained. "We have had some of our sharks travel into the Sea of Cortez which is something that concerns us due to the types of commercial fisheries they may encounter on that journey."Furthermore, the juvenile sharks in the nursery areas that occur along the coast of California and Mexico are even more at risk of incidental capture because they can be concentrated in certain areas and they are small enough to be easily captured by gill nets and longlines."
The app will enable users to see where about a dozen of the apex predators are positioned in the Pacific. Positions of tagged sharks are revealed via satellite, however, only when they're at the surface with their dorsal fins above water, so locations will appear only sporadically.
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"As for concern about people using the app to go out and find the sharks, I'm not very worried," Domeier said. "The positions are estimates because the sharks are constantly moving and it's a very big ocean. I wish it were that easy [to find them]."
Another app feature is a game called "Shark Life," which enables users to learn about the life history of white sharks by guiding a virtual baby shark through the Southern California marine environment, consuming fish while trying to avoid gillnets, pollution and other real-life threats.
The app's news interface keeps users informed on MCSI discoveries and its facts tab proviides general information about great whites. The app also includes videos whowing the research team in action.
Domeier and the MCSI team were featured on a National Geographic television series also called "Expedition Great White." It debuted in 2009 and was later renamed "Shark Men."
--White shark image is courtesy of Michael Domeier and protected by copyright laws
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