WEBVTT
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Language: en-US

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Field research is always a

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challenge, particularly
when you're working with wild animals.

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There is a lot
that you can't control about fieldwork

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But when it all comes together
and you're catching the sharks

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that you want to be tagging and the fish
that you want to be tagging, that's really

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where the magic happens.

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My name is Grace Castleberry.

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I am a Ph.D.

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candidate at the University
of Massachusetts Amherst.

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And a NOAA Dr. 

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Nancy Foster scholar.

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The NOAA Dr.

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Nancy Foster scholarship
is part of the Office of National Marine

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Sanctuaries, and it supports
graduate students that are doing research

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directly connected to research
needs in the sanctuary.

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For me personally,
I would probably not be getting a Ph.D.

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degree without this scholarship.

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My research is in Florida Keys,
National Marine Sanctuary,

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where I study interactions
between great hammerhead

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sharks and Atlantic tarpon,
with a particular focus on hammerheads

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eating or depredating Atlantic tarpon
that have been caught

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in the recreational fishery
before they've been landed.

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What I

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want to do is find solutions, understand
what different environmental factors

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like the direction that the current
is flowing in or the time of day.

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How does that influence these interactions
between sharks and recreational anglers?

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And then also testing out some
new technologies to be able to understand

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if there are some technological solutions
that we can use to reduce

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how often these interactions are happening

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People fish recreationally

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for fun, but also for food
and that's very important.

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But sharks got to eat too, right?

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So we want to make sure
that we can find a way for both of us

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to use the ocean together sustainably.

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We fish for the great hammerhead
sharks in Bahia Honda

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in a bit of a nontraditional way.
We actually hand line for them.

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Once that shark takes the bait,
I can feel the line

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just start ripping through my hands.

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And then I let that

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shark take the 50 yards of rope
that I have off

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of the back of the boat,
and it's attached to a big float.

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Once we get it close enough to the boat,
we will put a tail rope on its tail.

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So basically we reach over
and lasso its tail and we tie

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that to the boat and then we also do
the same thing at the head.

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So the whole reason that we're tying
the shark to the side of the boat

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is because we want to keep the shark safe.

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We also want to keep us safe, which also
means we don't want it to thrash around.

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Once the shark is secured,
we start our tagging process.

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I'll put the acoustic tag
at the base of the dorsal fin.

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And then I put the satellite tag
a little bit higher

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up on that dorsal
fin. We will measure the shark, we will determine

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if it's male or female,
and then we take the hook out,

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we untie the ropes and we let her go

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and we get to see all the cool data

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that she gets to collect for me
as she swims throughout the Keys.

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I grew up always loving the ocean.

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I fished with my grandpa

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and my mom on summer vacations
and cape Cod, Massachusetts.

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But I never really thought
that that was a job that I could do

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until I was in college
at the University of Connecticut.

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My hope is that as I finish my Ph.D.

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and hopefully one day have my own lab
that I can provide

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experiences of collaboration
between women in shark science

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and just continue to foster
a sense of inclusion

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and provide opportunities
for those that may be less represented

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or less heard from in marine science,
in fisheries

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biology,
and in particular in shark science.