Soon the team had scored a $10,000 grant and was laying the foundation for what would become the Crystal River Bull Shark Project.

“It’s been really taking off,” Clark said. “Which is so great.”

A community effort

The shark research team wasn’t able to launch the boat in December — but they had help.

A key part of the Crystal River Bull Shark Project is its encouragement of citizen science. Andres and her team are asking local anglers to report their bull shark catches, including when and where the animal was caught.

On Dec. 14, an angler provided photos of two bull sharks he caught in Kings Bay, an enclosed estuary that supplies 99% of the fresh water within the river system. He caught and released the pair 10 minutes apart while he was fishing for ladyfish. That data was crucial for the team that couldn’t be on the water, and the angler report filled a knowledge gap that now confirms bull sharks are still swimming in Crystal River at the end of the year.

Having community members involved in the project builds a fuller picture of bull shark habits when researchers can’t always be on the water, and it introduces anglers to the world of marine science, Clark said.

“We didn’t want to come in, do the science under the radar and leave,” Clark said. Crystal River, after all, is a community his family intimately knows: His mother has owned an audiology business for three decades and is spreading the word about her son’s ongoing shark project at her regular Rotary Club meetings. It’s built community trust.

“It’s a lot more work, but the benefit is that it helps us and gets the community involved,” Clark said.

The biggest shark yet

...continued

©2024 Tampa Bay Times. Visit tampabay.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.