Shark Spy
Can you become a shark reporter? Help scientists learn more about the biology, ecology and conservation of sharks.
Use this citizen science project to identify and count sharks, rays and skates in the waters around Aotearoa New Zealand. This work will help to fill in some of the missing key data that is important for the conservation of sharks.
Shark Spy
The Shark Spy citizen science project seeks to collect sightings and information about sharks in and around Aotearoa New Zealand.
URLs: www.zooniverse.org/projects/sharkspy/shark-spy and www.inaturalist.org/projects/shark-spy
Reach: New Zealand
Students and citizen scientists can participate in this project any time by watching videos on Zooniverse. By recognising, labelling and categorising shark species, you help provide vital information for scientists monitoring sharks. Shark observations can also be logged on the iNaturalist project page. Participating in this encourages an increased connection between your ākonga and their coastal environment.
Broadnose sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus)
This species of shark is recognisable due to having seven gill slits – most shark species only have five. They are one of the most common inshore shark species around Aotearoa. They are opportunistic predators, feeding on anything that fits in their mouths, and have been reported to attack humans.
Nature of science focus: Online citizen science (OCS) projects can be used to develop any of the Nature of Science (NoS) substrands. Identify aspects of NoS that your students need to get better at or understand more fully and then frame your unit to be very clear about these things when you do them.
Science capability focus: Gather and interpret data, Engage with science
Science focus: Ecology – fish identification and species distribution, classification
Some suggested science concepts:
Human observations are required to train artificial intelligence.
Value of baseline population data.
Scientists classify living things and group them according to their shared features.
All animals occupy specific habitats and niches.
Many concepts could be learned – focusing on a few can often be more powerful. Develop your learning outcomes and success criteria from these concepts as well as the Nature of Science strand and the science capabilities.
Some examples of learning outcomes:
Students can:
learn about the biology of sharks
deepen their understanding of the diversity, abundance and structure of shark populations
show an increased understanding of the impact sharks have on the ecosystem
develop their classification and observation skills by learning to identify different species
discuss how their logged sightings could be used by scientists
examine the strengths and weaknesses of this form of data collection, including investigating what biases could be introduced to the data gathering due to the use of bait.
Spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias)
A spiny dogfish and other fish surround one of the Shark Spy project’s baited underwater videos. This shark species lives in shallow waters and further offshore in most parts of the world, especially in more temperate waters.
Image sourced from iNaturalistNZ.
Sharks are a crucial part of marine food webs. They keep the populations of other species in their habitat controlled not only by consuming them but also by modulating feeding behaviour. As a top-level consumer, sharks are supported by millions of primary producers from the base of the food web.
About Shark Spy
The aim of Shark Spy is to collect baseline population data on the sharks, rays and skates around Aotearoa. The project generates data by combining community sightings (using the iNaturalist app) with baited underwater video (BUV) surveys (via Zooniverse). The project is co-ordinated by the University of Otago’s New Zealand Marine Studies Centre and had initial funding from the Curious Minds Participatory Science Platform.
Deploying an underwater camera
Rob Lewis works at the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre, Univeristy of Otago and is known as the 'resident shark expert'. Here he is deploying a underwater camera into Otago Harbour.
The data gathered will help fill current gaps in information on shark populations, including diversity, seasonality, coastal movement, residency and population structure (age, sex and size). Having a collection of baseline data such as this is critical for shark conservation and for ongoing monitoring of their population status.
Videos collected by school and community groups are converted to images and uploaded to the Zooniverse project page. This allows both those groups to analyse the data and provides content for any who are interested.
How to submit data
Shark Spy wants to know about your experience with sharks and to see any photos or video that you have (make sure you include the date and location). These can be submitted by:
adding to the Shark Spy project on iNaturalist
emailing your encounter to NZMSC.community@otago.ac.nz.
Identifying species on Shark Spy
It is easy to participate in this project and it doesn’t take a lot of time. Just go to Shark Spy on Zooniverse – there is lots of helpful information, including a tutorial.
Participants are asked to watch a 3-second video to see if they can identify any sharks, rays or skates. There is a field guide and a table of images of various sharks, rays or skates to assist with species identification. If you are still uncertain what type of shark, ray or skate is in the video, you can use the Talk chat function to ask questions.
Under the Collect tab, there are lots of videos that you can watch without having to sign in.
Note: if on Zonniverse there is a message about "this project is out of data" this is likely due to the project just waiting for more updated data to be uploaded.
Related content
Read about research that has found that the long lifespans and slow reproduction rates of deep-water sharks and rays mean that these species are as vulnerable to overexploitation as whales once were.
Learn more about the work on sharks by a Wellington teacher to support NIWA as part of the FISH-BOL project – an international effort to collect DNA barcodes for all fish species:
Seaweek could be a good time to schedule a unit around this project.
Discover more about marine food webs.
This recorded webinar features information about monitoring the moana – participatory science methods. Our guest speaker, Sally Carson from the Otago University Department of Marine Science, shares why it is important to be citizen scientists.
Activity ideas
We have a variety of activities to help students to get involved in marine science. These include Build a marine food web, Making and using a quadrat, Hiding in plain sight and Introducing biodiversity.
Citizen science
Inspired to help scientists learn more about the marine animals of Aotearoa? Take part in the Spyfish Aotearoa citizen science project, which also uses baited underwater video.
Get outside with the Marine Metre Squared project. Monitor your local marine environment by collecting information about the diversity and abundance of the living organisms that exist between low and high tides.
Find out more about using iNaturalist.
Here are some planning tips for using a citizen science project with your students. See these helpful webinars: Getting started with citizen science and Online citizen science.
Useful links
Join Shark Spy on the iNaturalist citizen science platform.
Visit the citizen science project section on the University of Otago New Zealand Marine Studies Centre website. There is information on several projects.
Watch these YouTube videos from Marine Science Otago to help inspire you to be involved:
Shark Spy I: What is Shark Spy An early introduction to the Shark Spy project by Rob Lewis. Note that this does not include Zooniverse, as that come later.
Shark Spy II: Who is Rob Lewis? Meet the scientist behind the Shark Spy project – his journey from Namibia to South Africa to Aotearoa New Zealand and his love of sharks.
Shark Spy III: The Case of the Egg! Rob explains how to spot shark egg cases along the seashore.
For more videos, including ones of sharks visiting baited underwater video, see the Shark Spy channel.
Read this research paper from 2021 written by Rob Lewis and Sally Carson of the University of Otago that looks at measuring the science skill growth in high school students after participation in the citizen science project Shark Spy.
Visit the Sharks/rays section on the Department of Conservation website.
Find curriculum-aligned teaching resources for Shark Awareness Day (an annual celebration around the world on 14 July) on the Marine Stewardship Council website.
Acknowledgement
Shark Spy is a project within the Zooniverse platform. Zooniverse, the world’s largest platform for people-powered research, is a collaboration between Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, the University of Oxford, the University of Minnesota, 2.9 million participants and hundreds of researchers around the world. For the full list of 80+ active Zooniverse projects, check out zooniverse.org/projects.