SHARK SHOW

HOW OCEAN RESEARCHERS ARE UNRAVELLING THE MYSTERIES OF THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS PREDATOR

- Chelsea Murray

A white shark is human fear-made flesh. It shears the water like a missile targeting its prey, with conveyor belt rows of serrated teeth and skin so rough it was once used as sandpaper. From a primordial perspective, our fear of these creatures is understandable. But we’re a peculiar species, fascinated by what terrifies us. From Jaws to Shark Week, sharks occupy an intersection between terror and entrancement. So when one starts tweeting, of course we follow.

In March 2017, an American research group called Ocearch caught a 600- kilogram, 3.7-metre-long white shark off Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. They then bolted a flashlight-sized satellite transmitter to his dorsal fin and named him Hilton. That same month, they gave him a Twitter account run by a team of staff, volunteers and scientists. Thanks to Ocearch’s Global Shark Tracker app, anyone in the world could now watch Hilton’s migration as he swam (and tweeted) along Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast.

With nearly 50,000 followers, Hilton is a minor celebrity and unofficial mascot to Nova Scotia’s shark fans. The staff at Ocearch use the Twitter account to present Hilton as a jaunty guy on the hunt for food and love. (A typical post goes, “Just gave the last fish a 15 second head start. Feelin’ sporty, I think I’ll give the next one 25 seconds.”) Hilton’s not the only social media star. Ocearch has launched 27 Twitter accounts for tagged sharks.

Thanks in part to its savvy marketing, Ocearch has become one of the best-known, and most controversial, ocean-research outfits in the world. (The name is a portmanteau of “ocean” and “research.”) At the non-profit’s helm is an equally polarizing figure named Chris Fischer. Instead of fearing sharks, he wants us to save them.