How does Shark-Tracker work?
The heart of Shark-Tracker are the scientific projects we support with the money we raise. This time it beats close to New Zealand, more particularly off the coast of Stewart Island, where Dr. Ramón Bonfil is tagging great white sharks. Dr. Bonfil, well-known shark scientist, launched this project to obtain key scientific information on the distribution, abundance and movements of great white sharks and the main threats to their survival in New Zealand.During his adventurous New Zealand-expedition in March, Dr. Bonfil and his team plan to tag several great white sharks with pop-up archival tags and near-real time tags. It is these near-real time tags that bring Shark-Tracker alive! They allow us to track each shark almost on a real-time basis. Every time the dorsal fin of the shark comes out of the surface of the sea, the tag switches on and sends a radio signal that is picked up by passing polar-orbiting satellites. Once the signal is picked up by the satellites they re-transmit this message to land-based centers where the information is processed. The global position of the tag and all the current data is then sent directly to our computers. With our special Shark-Tracker software, designed pro bono by the software-company living-e AG, the received information is converted into a little graphic shark which swims smoothly through maps, satellite card material and various dimensions of display - just like a little copy of the true shark. The entire data-processing takes a few hours, making near-real time tracking of the shark possible.
The Shark-Tracker website itself consists of two levels: The Free Access level, which provides key information about great white sharks, the project and scientific background, and the Sponsor Level which can only be entered by sponsors using their password. (Sponsors can choose a password during the adoption-process). Shark-Tracker itself, portraits of the sharks, exclusive pictures and video-clips are located here.
Note: At this point we must mention the possibility that due to the nature of this research you may not get news from your shark every single day. Because tags only transmit when the shark is at the surface (and it might not come to the surface every day) AND a satellite needs to be right on top of the shark when the tag transmits. There is always a chance that one of these events does not happen with the result that there will be no location data for that shark in a while. Also, sometimes the tag can fall off the shark fin or in a few occasions they may malfunction due to the natural growth of encrusting marine animals that can prevent the salt water switch to turn on the tags. This is normal in this type of scientific research even when using high-tech gadgets, because we are still dealing with a factor we can't control: Nature! We do, however, offer compensation in the event of malfunction or tag loss - you may choose a new shark.
