Scientist tracks black tip shark movements

On their trail: Florida Atlantic University associate professor Stephen Kajiura implants a tracking device into a black tip shark caught off Florida. Photos: TNS

Transmitters attached to sharks help scientists monitor changes in their migration routes.

On a violently pitching boat just outside Singer Island’s surf zone off Florida, Stephen Kajiura and a crew of students set out baited hooks for sharks. Thousands of black tip sharks come within yards of South Florida’s beaches during their winter migrations, and Kajiura, associate professor of biology at Florida Atlantic University, is catching them and implanting acoustic transmitters to study their movements.