community
Sep 26, 2018
By Elisa Chan of the Turtle Island Restoration Network
Over 300 miles off the coast of Costa Rica lies the jewel of the Pacific Ocean, Isla del Coco. Described by Jacque Cousteau as the most beautiful island on earth, this oceanic island boasts a rich marine ecosystem, unique flora, and secrets of the deep ocean. In an effort to continue to learn about the mysteries of the Coco Islands, a team of marine biologists from Turtle Island Restoration Network, the crew from Undersea Hunter, and Park Rangers from Cocos Island National Park worked together to document the behavior of one of the most elusive marine visitors-the tiger shark.
Tiger shark encounters are common and welcomed by divers at Cocos. However, in November 2017, visitors experienced the first-ever deadly attack by a tiger shark. While removing the shark involved in the attack was discussed, there is no photographic evidence from the incident, and therefore, no action was taken. Subsequent close encounters with tiger sharks have been photo-documented, but further data is needed to determine that only one shark was involved.
While this ultimate question remains unanswered, many additional questions need to be answered to adequately understand what may have led to this behavioral change. For example, did environmental changes-like less available food-lead to the attack? If it is a single shark that is involved in both the fatal attack and the increasingly aggressive encounters, is it new to Cocos, and where might it have come from? Is it ill perhaps, or maybe it has been habituated to humans by being fed?
Turtle Island and other research colleagues, as well as park managers seek answers to these questions in order to best manage the situation-protecting both wild and human life.
To drive this effort forward, Todd Steiner and Callie Veelenturf, marine biologists from Turtle Island Restoration Network, proposed luring tiger sharks to the surface using a plastic sea turtle mounted with GoPro cameras to capture feeding behavior, provide footage for photo identification, and deploy acoustic tags on the animals from the safety of the boat to better understand the sharks' movements. This research effort is allowed under special permits from Costa Rican National Park Service.
In August 2018, the team gathered their gear at the end of the dive day and boarded the skiffs to a site known as Manuelita Coral Garden. Tiger sharks are known to frequent this area to feed on boobie chicks that often fall from the cliff's edge. Here the team waited, ready with the turtle lure mounted with GoPros and pole spears loaded with acoustic tags. The plastic sea turtle nervously floated behind the boat, as the team watched intensely for shark shaped shadows in the water.
The first day proved the most successful with five sightings-and distant underwater footage of a tiger shark was captured from the turtle-mounted GoPro cameras. This success provided the team with confidence in their potential new approach for tagging and documenting sharks in the Coco Island region. Additional evenings were spent in the field; however, our team's schedule didn't seem to line up with tiger shark feeding time in this area on those days.
Nevertheless, the team at SeaTurtles.org will continue using this method over the coming months in an effort to uncover the full story behind these tiger shark encounters and create a management plan for the safety of both dive visitors and the tiger shark population. Thank you GoPro for supporting these efforts, from everyone with a love for the ocean and our fishy friends. You're turtle-y awesome.
Click here you're like to continue to support this incredible team. You can purchase items in-need directly, or contribute to their Microplastic research expedition budget. To learn more about our upcoming Coco Island trips, go here.
Elisa Chan is a friend of Turtle Island Restoration Network, a nonprofit dedicated to mobilizing people in local communities around the world to protect marine wildlife and the oceans and inland watersheds that sustain them. She was a guest on the August Undersea Hunter / TIRN expedition.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
community 
