The SHARK WEEK™ Bracelet

“In order to conserve and manage sharks, researchers use tags to track them in their natural habitat and study their movement patterns and behavior. This tagging allows researchers to better understand the species’ life history, social behavior, reproduction and much more, including how often the animals may interact with fisheries. These fields are all very important for advancing the conservation and management of sharks. 

“For example, Saving the Blue recently tagged a great hammerhead in Andros. Within the Bahamas, this shark was protected as part of the National Shark Sanctuary. When the shark left the Bahamas and swam to the United States, however, it was subject to fishing pressure as regulations permit limited harvest in federal waters. By revealing where sharks move and the routes they travel, scientists can understand how best to influence management and best protect them. This protection is only possible with the use of tags, which reveal the secrets of these fascinating creatures!” - Saving the Blue

To learn more about why sharks are tracked, visit our partner directly at savingtheblue.org.

“We use a combination of satellite and acoustic electronic devices. Satellite tags (SPOT or PSAT) are typically used to monitor migration patterns both horizontally and vertically as they can provide locations of the sharks during tracks and depth / temperature information at 5-minute intervals throughout their deployment. Acoustic tracking tags are usually deployed to examine habitat use at finer scales, determining the role of various biological factors (e.g. biotic / abiotic) on how sharks use particular areas.” - Saving the Blue

To learn more about how sharks are tracked, visit our partner directly at savingtheblue.org.

“Our team is very careful with how we handle and place tags on sharks. Most satellite devices are placed next to or through the dorsal fin. There are no nerve endings in the fins and although we are unable to ask a shark if it feels us making a hole to place a tag, they do not react. The tags are temporary with materials that break down over time, so eventually there are no tag remnants on the shark. Acoustic tags are typically implanted in the body cavity and can last up to 10-years, many recent studies that our scientific team have been involved with have tracked some individuals up to 6-years with tags implanted showing no adverse effects.” - Saving the Blue

To learn more, visit our partner directly at savingtheblue.org.

It really is! We teamed up with Discovery™ SHARK WEEK™ to make the biggest splash for shark conservation. All of our hammerhead sharks are tagged and tracked in partnership with Saving the Blue, and you might just spot your shark on TV!

Our nonprofit partner Saving the Blue outfits hammerhead sharks with satellite tags to study their movements, behavior, and ecology, and these data points are then plotted on a map to see where they go most often. When you track a hammerhead shark with The SHARK WEEK™ Bracelet, you follow a real shark's journey alongside researchers using these coordinates in the Fahlo app!

There are 9 recognized species of hammerhead shark: the scalloped hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, great hammerhead, whitefin hammerhead, Carolina hammerhead, golden hammerhead, winghead shark, scoophead, and bonnethead. We track individuals belonging to the first 3 species!

Of the hammerhead species we track, scalloped and great hammerheads are listed as Critically Endangered and smooth hammerheads are listed as Vulnerable. They are threatened in the wild mainly due to bycatch and overfishing, meaning they are intentionally fished for their fins, or are unintentionally caught during fishing operations targeting a different species. The stress of capture unfortunately causes a high mortality rate even after release, particularly for great hammerheads.

Hammerhead sharks love warm, temperate, and tropical waters around the world! They’re often found near the coast or cruising the continental shelf where marine life abounds and there is plenty of prey. Our partner Saving the Blue studies hammerhead sharks in The Bahamas (Andros Island), the southeastern US, and Mexico.