Here’s something Californians may not know: Lifeguards receive a text alert when some great white sharks come within about 100 feet of certain state beaches.
The Cal State Long Beach program developed this unique system about six years ago, and since then hundreds of juvenile white sharks have been tagged for monitoring.
However, the program is at risk of being shut down due to running out of government funding.
In 2018, the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach received $3.75 million in state funding to establish the program that monitors juvenile white sharks along the California coastline. Researchers hoped the monitoring would improve safety at beaches and help the public better understand marine life.
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The money allowed researchers to tag 300 juvenile sharks, about 235 of which are actively tracked, and send data on their whereabouts and habits to lifeguards on beaches from Morro Bay to the Mexican border, said Chris Lowe, a professor of marine biology and professor of marine biology. From Shark Lab.
The team initially tracked the sharks using 120 underwater acoustic receivers placed about 100 meters off the beach. Once a month, divers collected data from the receivers and sent them to lifeguards. At this point the information was often out of date.
Over the years, monitoring buoys have been added to the program “which provide real-time data to lifeguards,” Lowe said. “So now, when a tagged shark swims near one of these buoys, it sends a text alert to lifeguards. They can then click on that text alert, direct them to a website, and then find out all about the shark: how big it was, where it was, which beaches it visited.” visited, how long has he been on their beach?”
Lowe added that the technology serves less as an “early warning system” and more as a scientific tool to help lifeguards “better manage beaches.”
The funding was planned to last the research team for five years, but was able to extend the money for another year, Lowe said. The team of 15 people, including paid students, operates with a budget of approximately $1 million per year.
Lowe said he is talking to state lawmakers about allocating money to continue the program over the next few years. But the state’s grim budget outlook has stalled extra spending due to a projected budget deficit of at least $38 billion.
State Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) said she is aware that Cal State campuses are dealing with funding challenges and that Shark Lab’s alert system “also appears to be facing financial shortfalls.”
Gonzalez’s office did not say whether the senator would push for state funding for the lab.
Assemblyman Josh Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) is also aware of the problem. Chief of staff Guy Strahl said the office submitted a budget request for the program last year but was unsuccessful in getting more money. Lowe’s has not requested any other funding this year, and the program was not included in this year’s funding requests for the Cal State system or the Long Beach campus, Strahl said.
Lowe fears scientific progress could stall unless a $7 million donation is made to continue the program. For the program to survive, he said, the lab must find private or foundation funding until the state budget recovers.
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The monitoring reinforced drone research showing how often surfers and other beachgoers share the water with sharks; Most of the time it’s uneventful. This helped dispel misconceptions that sharks were always dangerous and that beaches had to be nearby.
Lowe said the data collection process saves coastal communities millions of dollars each year because beaches remain open more often despite lifeguards being alerted to sharks in the water.
Additionally, researchers are beginning to understand why sharks flock to certain beaches and what their food sources say about the marine ecosystem in general.
“This information is valuable not only to lifeguards but also to the public,” Lowe said. “Because they’re starting to better understand what sharks are doing out there and why they don’t pose as much of a risk as we once thought.”
Meanwhile, research efforts have become a major attraction and recruitment point for prospective students interested in studying marine biology at Cal State Long Beach.
Lowe said the new funding will help the team tag more sharks and upgrade transmitters, while continuing to educate the public about marine conservation and shark habits.
“When shark incidents occur and will continue to occur (shark bites will still occur), people will understand the rarity of these conditions,” he said. “If we can’t run these types of programs in California, I don’t know where we can do them.”
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This story was first published in the Los Angeles Times.