Shark Park 2021 Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz California. May 2021, Routine Survey (sharks, rays, mostly)

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PSRF Long Term Monitoring Study, Spring of 2021. White Shark (C. carcharias) Rookery Site. "Shark Park": Santa Cruz, California Monterey Bay, USA. Sample video/rough cut.

Drone Videographer: Luke Jensen / PSRF
Exeutive Director: Sean Van Sommeran / PSRF

Student Intern and Volunteer Opportunities (Santa Cruz California).

Monterey Bay has been well known for large sharks since the days of whaling, especially white sharks. However beginning in 2015 groups of juvenile and even yearling white shark pups began to arrive and gather up in assemblages numbering two dozen or more on occasion with groups of several or more being common throughout the summer and daily basis.

The site is becoming well known and appreciated as both a tour boat destination and top notch research site and seasonal way point for white shark pups (5ft-9ft on average, yearlings and juveniles) and a fewer number of subadult sharks (10ft-13ft plus) commonly in the mix.

A several local and bay area whale watching and touring boats have been routinely visiting the site during Summer months and a growing number of university labs and agencies have become interested in past few years.

Larger adult sharks over 14ft long are relatively rarely sighted but are long known to be periodically present, typically during Fall and Winter months with seemingly sporadic year around presence.

This gathering of white shark pups was first noted and documented in 2015 subsequent to many years of aerial survey work and marine wildlife tours conducted from aircraft (helicopter and fixed wing).

PSRF drone teams and boat crews often working in tandem have been closely monitoring, studying and documenting the site since its discovery in 2015. A single pups was previously documented in 2014 however the gathering of numerous white shark pups began abruptly in Spring 2015.

focusing upon apparent presence, abundance, behavior, population dynamics and seasonal range since first noting the assemblage of these shark pups in Spring of 2015. No observable or documented changes in abundances or generational categories of sharks since 2015, same size classes, numbers and seasonal site tenure ever year since.