Welcome to Shark-Tracker
Shark tracker is a state-of-the-art, interactive adoption program for great white sharks. Discover the excitement of following your personal sharks’ every move, while simultaneously helping to ensure a future for this majestic predator.By adopting a shark, you’ll become a true "shark tracker", and get to know your great white personally. Simply log-on to the Shark-Tracker website to reveal the current position of your shark. Learn how it moves through the ocean, the distances and depths it covers, even zoom in on its migration route. All of this is made possible through the use of high-tech tools such as near-real time satellite tags attached to the sharks’ fin, and satellite maps showing the current position of your shark.
The head scientist for the Shark-Tracker project is Dr. Ramón Bonfil, one of the world’s leading shark researchers. Take part in his heart-pumping, face-to-face meeting with the king of the ocean when tagging it. Join us as we learn more about Steven Spielberg’s leading actor, and share our enthusiasm for this fascinating creature.
Our Mission
Great white shark populations are declining globally, and they are at risk of becoming extinct. Therefore, they need our help. However, we still do not know enough about their movements and habitats to design protection measures that guarantee their survival. Via tagging studies scientists like Dr. Ramón Bonfil and other colleagues are seeking to unveil the mysteries of their lives. You can help us in our efforts to conserve this species and help its populations recover worldwide. Support this essential work by adopting one of the sharks tagged by Dr. Bonfil and his team. Learn more about Shark-Tracker and the adoption.Explore our website and find out more about the fascinating lives of great white sharks. Did you know that they are stalkers? Meet our sharks or learn more about Dr. Bonfil’s work.
Shark is calling home
"Kerri", the female great white shark, tagged by Dr. Bonfil and his colleagues Mr. Clinton Duffy and Dr. Malcolm Francis at Steward Island (NZ) in March 07, is the new "Kiwi-shark-record-swimmer". Nine months after the scientists had fixed the pop-up tag on her dorsal fin, the device started to call home in late December 2007. We now know that the tag came off south of the Swains Reefs off Rockhampton in Australia. Within only six weeks "Kerri" swam a distance of 3,000 km from New Zealand to the tropical waters of Australia and provided the first evidence, that great whites from New Zealand travel to Australia.
Filming and tagging in New Zealand - March 2008
Dr. Bonfil is going to the movies again! He has been invited by the TV-production company NHNZ to become a scientific advisor and interviewee for a documentary on "Nicole", the famous great white shark Dr. Bonfil tagged in 2004 off South Africa. The idea was, to film and "recreate" Nicole´s tagging and incredible journey for a new documentary for National Geographic. So in March 08 Ramon travelled to New Zealand and participated in another tagging-trip with his NZ-colleagues – this time with a TV-crew on board. But not only did he try hard to be a good actor – he also managed to tag a female great white shark with a pop-up tag. They named her "Miranda". Unfortunately this tag came off the shark two weeks later preventing the team to learn much about great whites from this tag, which was supposed to remain in Miranda for 6 months. Fortunately for the team, Clinton Duffy had tagged 'Jason' a 3.5 male the week before with a PAT tag that will report at the end of July. But things got better, as a month after Ramon's expedition, Dr. Francis and Michael Manning went to the Chatham Islands and were able to deploy two more of Ramon's PAT tags on great whites. 'Anka' and 'Fran' will shed their tags on 10 and 14 January 2009 if all goes right (fingers crossed!).
"Kerri", the female great white shark, tagged by Dr. Bonfil and his colleagues Mr. Clinton Duffy and Dr. Malcolm Francis at Steward Island (NZ) in March 07, is the new "Kiwi-shark-record-swimmer". Nine months after the scientists had fixed the pop-up tag on her dorsal fin, the device started to call home in late December 2007. We now know that the tag came off south of the Swains Reefs off Rockhampton in Australia. Within only six weeks "Kerri" swam a distance of 3,000 km from New Zealand to the tropical waters of Australia and provided the first evidence, that great whites from New Zealand travel to Australia.
Filming and tagging in New Zealand - March 2008
Dr. Bonfil is going to the movies again! He has been invited by the TV-production company NHNZ to become a scientific advisor and interviewee for a documentary on "Nicole", the famous great white shark Dr. Bonfil tagged in 2004 off South Africa. The idea was, to film and "recreate" Nicole´s tagging and incredible journey for a new documentary for National Geographic. So in March 08 Ramon travelled to New Zealand and participated in another tagging-trip with his NZ-colleagues – this time with a TV-crew on board. But not only did he try hard to be a good actor – he also managed to tag a female great white shark with a pop-up tag. They named her "Miranda". Unfortunately this tag came off the shark two weeks later preventing the team to learn much about great whites from this tag, which was supposed to remain in Miranda for 6 months. Fortunately for the team, Clinton Duffy had tagged 'Jason' a 3.5 male the week before with a PAT tag that will report at the end of July. But things got better, as a month after Ramon's expedition, Dr. Francis and Michael Manning went to the Chatham Islands and were able to deploy two more of Ramon's PAT tags on great whites. 'Anka' and 'Fran' will shed their tags on 10 and 14 January 2009 if all goes right (fingers crossed!).
"Livie"
Photo by Dr. Malcom Francis/NIWA
Photo by Dr. Malcom Francis/NIWA
"Claudia"
Photo by Stephan Swanson
Photo by Stephan Swanson
