Indian Ocean

I have spent the last decade conducting research in the Southern Indian Ocean. To conduct this work, I collaborate with the crew and captain of the Will Watch, a commercial fishing vessel that fishes in the deep sea off shore region of the Southern Indian Ocean. I work on board the ship to document and collect data from the shark species that are caught accidentally. Many of these species are totally new to science as this part of the world is largely unexplored. Below are images and video footage from my expeditions as well as excerpts from film documentaries.

In 2014, I was featured on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. I worked closely with a film crew to document my second expedition to the Southern Indian Ocean. We were at sea, thousands of miles from land, for over two months. In the film clip below you can see me holding a newly discovered ghost shark species. I accessioned this shark into the California Academy of Sciences.

In this next clip (below) from the same 2014 Shark Week episode, you can see as I work with the ship’s crew to collect data on these gulper sharks. Because these sharks are caught accidentally (while the crew are fishing for other fish), we not only collect data on them but also attempt to put them back into the water. These sharks have a slow reproductive cycle; so it is critical that we do what we can to release them back into the ocean to ensure that they are able to have offspring and continue their species.

While on these expeditions, we frequently attach cameras to the fishing nets so that we can get a glimpse of the sea floor. In the video below you can see footage from the bottom of the Southern Indian Ocean– nearly 16,000 feet below the surface (thats about 3 miles down!) This kind of footage is rare to capture. Here you can see various fish and sharks swimming at the bottom of the sea.