The Atlantic Shark Institute

The Atlantic Shark Institute Atlantic Shark Institute - RI based non-profit 501(c)(3). Conducts critical shark research.
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06/14/2026

We are currently tracking quite a few spinner sharks along the east coast as part of our collaboration with Florida State University’s Coastal and Marine Laboratory (FSUCML), Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), and Florida Atlantic University (FAU).

This video gives you a front row seat to the capture, tagging and release of one of those sharks!

This research focuses on understanding how spinner sharks use food resources across their range, with emphasis on regional and seasonal variation in diet and ecological role. The project is complementary to our movement ecology study on spinner sharks. Findings will help address key knowledge gaps related to predator–prey dynamics and support ecosystem-based fisheries management and shark conservation along the U.S. Atlantic coast. The study is led by Jake Beretta, Ph.D. student at Florida State University, under the advisement of Dr. Dean Grubbs.

This video appeared on Tomas Koeck ‘s Emmy nominated film Chasing Fins that you can watch on Ocean State Media PBS and don’t forget to turn into Tomas’ newest release, Tides of Change that you catch on WSBE and PBS Passport tomorrow at 9:00PM!

research

We are so excited that Chasing Fins, a film featuring the important work of the Atlantic Shark Institute by award-winnin...
06/07/2026

We are so excited that Chasing Fins, a film featuring the important work of the Atlantic Shark Institute by award-winning filmmaker was nominated for an NE EMMY for the Environmental/Science category! It is beautifully done and we are so happy that Tomas wonderful work was recognized with this prestigious nomination!

Every day our team of more than 50 dedicated individuals works tirelessly on important shark research, and it’s satisfying to see their hard work reflected in such a beautiful way. Chasing Fins is only the pilot in Tomas’s new series on .state.media and we are excited to watch the next edition that will be announced this June! You can watch Chasing Fins on PBS Passport. 🦈

05/31/2026

Here is some great BRUVs video (Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems) we wanted to share. It shows some of the beautiful patterns we can capture during this research.

Both skates and rays rely on highly specialized camouflage to do several things really well in our oceans. One is to hide from predators as they look for food but they can’t get too distracted or they may become the next meal! Another is to use camouflage to ambush prey before they see what’s happening. It’s always fascinating to see them as they bury themselves in the sand using their fins to kick up sediment, leaving only their eyes exposed. We slowed down the video so you could enjoy the detailed pattern here! Absolutely beautiful.

If you have ever wondered where our acoustic receivers are positioned, here is the answer! As you can see, thanks to the...
05/24/2026

If you have ever wondered where our acoustic receivers are positioned, here is the answer! As you can see, thanks to the generosity of our supporters and donors, we now have 21 receivers in place for 2026, our highest number to date!

These receivers detect anything with an acoustic tag in it or on it so they are invaluable to researchers up and down the East Coast of the US and Canada. The array extends from Galilee, RI, out to Block Island and all the way to Fishers Island, NY. We pull data twice a summer, upload it to a shared database and everyone benefits from this data.

This is how we track shark movements with thousands of receivers up and down the coast and thus the reason tagging is a big part of many of our research projects.

Island research

05/17/2026

Shark season has officially arrived here in RI with a number of shark sightings that began at Salty Brine State Beach in Galilee on Saturday afternoon and ended inside of Point Judith Pond (Billington Cove) where a porbeagle shark eventually beached itself and unfortunately died Sunday afternoon. The species itself isn’t that surprising as they love colder water and unlike many other sharks that have yet to arrive, this shark was likely getting ready to follow the colder water north as our waters slowly warm.

A shark that is presumed to be the same one was first found wedged in rocks by the breakwater at Salty Brine State Beach but reports are that it freed itself and then started swimming in circles. Not long after, Eric Silveira sent us pictures and a video of the shark swimming into Point Judith Pond where it made its way toward Point Judith Marina where it ran into at Dan Smalley (). He got a video of the shark as it swam back to the middle of the pond and towards Billington Cove. Ken O’Keefe looked out his door Sunday morning at 5:30 AM and was surprised to see a fin slicing the deeper water where it eventually made its way to shallow, muddy water and eventually died. According to Ken, a necropsy was perfumed by NOAA and the shark was towed out to sea.

Thanks to everyone who reached out to us over 24 hours to provide information and video on this shark along with Greg Skomal at MADMF and John Chisholm from New England Aquarium. Both aided our executive director in reviewing all the video and photos to identify this shark. Big thank as well to Chief Dean Hoxsie from RI DEM for also making us aware of the shark along with our great friends at Mystic Aquarium!

05/10/2026

We are very excited to share the arrival of three brand new Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems (BRUVs) here to the Atlantic Shark Institute. These new BRUVs will be paired with three new GoPro 13s which will double our capacity for research during the 2026 season. It will also open up entirely new areas along the RI coast for us, Block Island Maritime Institute (BIMI), and our teams to explore. These new BRUVs will be used by one of our key partners in this research, Roger Williams University here in RI.

Huge thank you to all of our supporters who allow us to do this important work and to expand the value of it each and every season!

05/03/2026

This video from our shortfin mako research shows two things of note. The first is the hook type and its positioning on this shark. You will note that it is a circle hook and positioned in a safe place for the shark. It is not gut hooked and it is not in the throat of the shark. Circle hooks have a remarkable track record versus J hooks, they are critical element of responsible shark research and we have used them exclusively in our research for decades!

The other thing to note is the longline hook that is in this shark. Many sharks we catch have hooks in them and we always take the time to remove all the hooks before release. Our most popular method is to use a bolt cutter that allows us to cut the tooth in half and simply slide it out! Mako sharks should arrive in the next month or so and we look forward to sharing our field research with you! 🦈

Poster Alert! Congratulations to Grace Baldwin from Roger Williams University on her poster presentation on our Baited R...
04/26/2026

Poster Alert! Congratulations to Grace Baldwin from Roger Williams University on her poster presentation on our Baited Remote Underwater Video System (BRUVs) research off of Block Island, RI!

She did an excellent job defining our shared objectives, methods, results and future work of this all important study. In it, we aim to characterize the community structure of sharks and rays in the study area and to quantify spatial and temporal variations in abundance and species richness. Grace identified almost a dozen different species and we can’t wait to kick off more of this important work in the coming weeks!

Enjoy this wonderful work and a big thank you to Grace, Talia Moine, David Taylor, Jake Beretta, Alex Korbobo, Conor McManus, Katie Cass, Jules Craynock, Tom Fetherston and others on the ASI and RWU teams. Great work! 🦈

Poster Alert! Congratulations to Grace Baldwin from Roger Williams University on her poster presentation on our Baited R...
04/26/2026

Poster Alert! Congratulations to Grace Baldwin from Roger Williams University on her poster presentation on our Baited Remote Underwater Video System (BRUVs) research off of Block Island, RI!

She did an excellent job defining our shared objectives, methods, results and future work of this all important study. In it, we aim to characterize the community structure of sharks and rays in the study area and to quantify spatial and temporal variations in abundance and species richness. Grace identified almost a dozen different species and we can’t wait to kick off this important work in the coming weeks!

Enjoy this wonderful work and a big thank you to Grace, Talia Moine, David Taylor, Jake Beretta, Alex Korbobo, Conor McManus, Katie Cass, Jules Craynock, Tom Fetherston and others on the ASI and RWU teams. Great work! 🦈

Say hello to Leah! She’s a 10 foot long common thresher shark that was tagged on August 12, 2022 by Captain Mike Theiler...
04/19/2026

Say hello to Leah! She’s a 10 foot long common thresher shark that was tagged on August 12, 2022 by Captain Mike Theiler and our own Executive Director, Jon Dodd. We outfitted her with a 10-year acoustic tag allowing us to follow her through many years of migrations up and down the East Coast of the US. Do you see a pattern?

She loves Southern New England during the summer months and like many snow birds, she finds herself off the Carolinas and Florida in the colder winter months when waters off New England are too cold for her! 2025 data is being downloaded now from acoustic receivers up and down the East Coast and we look forward to sharing more on this beautiful shark. This thresher project is a collaboration between the Atlantic Shark Institute, Dr. Conor McManus (NOAA) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS). Big thanks to Kimmie Lavoie for these wonderful charts. Look for updates in the coming months on Leah and all of our tagged common thresher sharks! .prints

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