Culture

Shark Researchers Are Desperately Hunting Down A Valuable Shark Tag At Wollongong Uni

Researchers have tracked the tag to somewhere near the campus library.

by Patrick Lenton  7 May 2021
sharks

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The NSW Department of Primary Industries has taken to Instagram stories to ask for the return of a valuable shark tag, that’s been used to track a bull shark around NSW waters. They know the shark tag is at the University of Wollongong, and they want it back.

“Have you seen our shark tag?” they ask on their page, NSW SharkSmart. “It has valuable data from the shark that it tracked for 120 days. The GPS indicates it is in YOUR area!”

They then show a picture of the tag, which looks like a very fancy bottle of soy sauce.

Department of Primary Industries Director of Fisheries Research, Dr Natalie Moltschaniwskyi said the pop-off satellite tag was tagged onto a 1.95 m male bull shark in Evans Head on 22 January 2021 and has been tracked via satellite for the last four months.

“The tag successfully popped off the shark and washed ashore on Wednesday morning. From there, via GPS satellite tracking, we can see that the tag is most likely in a vehicle,” Dr Moltschaniwskyj said.

“This person hasn’t done anything wrong but we are very keen to get the tag back as it contains crucial information about the shark such as where it has been, its swimming depth and feeding behaviour. These tags are a great way to get a treasure trove of information without needing to catch the shark again.”

Because the primary function of the shark tag is tracking (the secondary function is FASHION I assume… although is the tag inside the shark or outside?) the DPI has tracked whoever picked up the tag to the University of Wollongong campus, down the south coast of NSW. The last tracking, at 6.41am today, shows the bearer of the tag just outside the campus library.

The state-of-the-art pop-off tags are fitted below the dorsal fin of the shark enabling the animal to be tracked via satellite for 120 days. The tags are self-releasing – and wash up on shorelines anywhere along the coast, depending on tides and currents where they are retrieved by NSW Fisheries Officers.

UOW happens to be my alma mater, and I can tell the Shark Department to steer clear of any Creative Writing students, as we were never up at 6.41am, and we never went to the library. If the shark tag was tracked to the UniBar before midday, then I’d reconsider.

Before people get too suspicious — why are we tracking sharks? Do we really want to return a tag to the equivalent of fish paparazzi? But SharkSmart basically an initiative by the NSW government to “increase its knowledge about the movement and ecology of White, Tiger, and Bull sharks, and trials of technologies to reduce the risk of shark bites at our beaches.”

We simply love to swim without being eaten.

But we must also consider the prospect that the shark in question has simply decided to better itself in the halls of higher education. Go on girl, get yourself a business degree! Matriculate! Give yourself jaundice from living entirely off UniBar chips and jugs of New.

Anyway! If you have any info about the whereabouts of the tag, or have perhaps seen a suspiciously fishy person in a huge overcoat and a hat, getting lost in the Arts building, asking the Subway to make them a seal sandwich… get in touch with the DPI on Instagram.

“The tag only has a week left of battery so we are very keen to get the tag back before we lose track of it. Please – if you’ve found an object on the beach that looks like it might be our tag – let us know,” Dr Moltschaniwskyj said.