Andrew is a post-doctoral researcher in North Carolina focused on population and conservation genetics in hydrothermal vent communities.
Junior the Great White shark, before and (long) after being caught by Dr. Domeier's team. Image courtesy FijiSharkDiving.Blogspot.com
Several months ago, still photographs showing an injured great white shark surfaced. The shark in question was previously captured by a shark research team lead by Dr. Michael Domeier on the TV show “Shark Men” – and the capture of this shark didn’t go as planned. These still images were taken from a video, and in response to the ensuing controversy, Dr. Domeier’s team claimed that when the full video is viewed, you can see that the injury comes from another shark and not from capture injury. No clear sharkbite injuries are visible in the original still image.
I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the full video, which had been in the possession of NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries pending an investigation.
Here, for the first time available to the public, is the full video from which the above images were taken.
This is the entire video that NOAA sent me, I have not edited it in any way. The first 45 seconds show Junior completely uninjured before he was captured by Dr. Domeier’s research team. The rest, taken much later, shows the injury seen in the image above.
The latter part of the video also shows Junior with numerous injuries near the wound on his jaw. These injuries are clearly bites from other sharks, and were not visible in the previous still image.
Still from the full video. Arrow points to sharkbite injuries
Still from the full video. Left arrow points to clear sharkbite injury, right arrow points to originally seen jaw injury
Still from the full video. Left arrow points to clear sharkbite injuries, right arrow points to originally seen jaw injury.
The full video clearly shows that Junior’s injuries are caused by intraspecies conflict and not a direct result of the capture method. The concern that the tagging method seriously injured this shark is not supported by the evidence at hand.
Dr. Domeier’s team was able to attach a satellite tag to Junior during his original capture. Data from that tag shows that Junior is still swimming.
UPDATE: The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary has posted the video on their website along with some background information. This was done partially in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by myself and others.
Please note that we will continue to moderate comments as we did in the previous thread: Severely injured great white shark found, are scientists responsible? Everyone is encouraged to read through those comments and take a look at our comment policy before posting.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
22 
0
Hello
Well I think you all know my thoughts concerning the methods employed by the sharkmen team. However, many of those wounds have been inflicted by another shark. Much of the white sharks behaviour is centred around non combat so severe injuries from another white shark are relatively uncommon.
Is it possible that this shark was bitten while on the line? Is it possible that due to the hooking and fishing of the animal, the shark was vulnerable to attack after it was released?
Craig
Hot debate. What do you think?
13 
9
“Is it possible that this shark was bitten while on the line?”
No. The researchers on the other end of the line would have certainly noticed this. Also, the bite marks were not visible yet once Junior was brought on board the vessel. They occurred sometime after Junior was caught. I don’t know how quickly wounds heal on great whites, but if it was a sandbar shark, I’d estimate that those wounds were not years old but were more recent.
“Is it possible that due to the hooking and fishing of the animal, the shark was vulnerable to attack after it was released?”
That’s possible, but we’ll never know it for sure. Also, biting each other is common among sharks, and it isn’t usually associated with attack or aggression (in some species, it’s a social behavior, in others it’s associated with mating). There’s no reason to suspect that a great white would bite a weakened conspecific that it encountered.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
15 
3
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
13 
32
“The question is about whether or not the shark’s overall diminished condition is the result of the harmful hook and line method… I dont know anyone who asserted the tumorous looking injury to its lower face and jaw was from the hook; the concern was that the hook injury to the sharks throat caused the shark’s weakened condition that resulted in being attacked by another shark.”
That’s not entirely correct, Sean. The original e-mail that included the still image seen at the top of this post stated:
“The shark has a tumor-like lesion where it had been man-handled by the team [Domeier's team]”
Whoever leaked the original still image claimed that the injury was caused by Junior’s encounter with Dr. Domeier’s team, not as the result of other sharks encountering a weakened Junior and attacking him.
Again, based on what little we know of great white shark behavior, there’s no reason to suspect that another white shark would bite Junior after encountering him in a weekend state. The news report you link to is not a good analogy- that animal was immobilized on a drum line.
Also, there’s another important difference between the shark in the news report you link to and Junior’s injuries. That Australian shark had enormous chunks taken out of it. Junior had small bite marks. The other shark was not trying to eat Junior, if it was and Junior was as weakened as you claim, Junior would not still be around. Small bite marks heal, having chunks bitten out of your side does not heal.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
20 
1
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
10 
35
Are you really suggesting than an animal whose jaw is so injured that it cannot eat would be capable of swimming thousands of miles and living for over a year?
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
14 
4
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
6 
30
I’m glad to see critical thinking going on here by David Shiffman. It is to your credit that these sorts of things be fully investigated before assigning blame wrongfully. That can damage credibility to what could otherwise be a great educational opportunity.
For what it’s worth, the sharks I’ve seen “sharkmen” run tests on, are handled with the utmost of respect that one can accord. This is hardly an easy task but the information that will be gained is priceless.
I think ego’s should step aside on this
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
15 
5
It does appear that whoever leaked the image “conveniently” may have intentionally chosen a frame which would support their case. However, finger-pointing and ulterior motives aside… Sean makes many logical points on the handling of this creature.
Regardless of whether the hook damage led directly to the jaw wound, or if it indirectly contributed by making this individual more susceptible to attack, or if it was entirely coincidental – I still believe the massive hook-and-haul method is unnecessary and should be disallowed when equally effective methods of tagging and collecting blood samples from free-swimming sharks are available and proven.
We all know hauling a 2K+ pound shark out of the water gets much higher ratings than studying it the old-fashioned way… but the well-being of endangered species should not be sacrificed in order to make “Extreme TV”. The stress of hooking it, tiring it out and hauling it out of the water, not to mention having to shove bolt-cutters into its gills when something goes awry, may threaten its ability to regulate its body temperature as other scientists have speculated, or weaken it in other ways we do not yet understand.
Let’s put egos, spotlights and big-budget TV on the back-burner, err on the side of caution and treat these animals with the caution and respect they deserve.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
19 
8
” equally effective methods of tagging and collecting blood samples from free-swimming sharks are available and proven.”
There are no existing methods to obtain blood samples from free-swimming sharks.
You can tag a free swimming shark, but with a different kind of tag- a tag that has a much shorter battery life and does not transmit real-time data.
Reasonable people can disagree over how high-resolution we need the data to be and if getting higher-resolution data is worth possible risks to the shark, but to claim that the lower risk methods produce data that is equally high resolution is simply incorrect.
Like or Dislike:
14 
5
Thank you, David, for seeing this through and having the guts to say it like it is. For me personally, it takes a lot of patience and tolerance to endure what is stated (and re-stated, and re-stated) over the internet by just a few people. Many of these statements are misleading, or outright lies, but if I defend myself it just feeds the fire. You have in fact confirmed what I originally stated when these photos came to light.
Now that the door has been cracked, let me correct some of the other untruths that have arisen during the course of this controversy.
Popup tagging cannot determine the 2-year migratory cycle of adult female white sharks. Period, end of story. SPOT tagging is currently the only technology that can achieve tracks of this length. In the next few weeks you will see some of the new adult female results on TV, before I am even able to publish (TV happens much faster than peer-review!). Hopefully we will document a few more 2-year migrations from other adult females this spring/summer.
Lifting sharks out of the water, and exposing them to the force of gravity, does not result in the destruction of internal organs. If this was so my sharks would have died. Since sharks do not have lungs or a swimbladder they are relatively incompressible. Furthermore, they are an order of magnitude smaller than killer whales which can survive periods out of water (and they have lungs).
The blood I draw is not to test stress levels, it is used to study the reproductive cycle of this species. The only other way to do this type of work is to kill the shark and cut it open; that is unacceptable under any circumstance.
We did not break the jaw of “Junior.” Yes, his jaw is screwed up now, but again, it was not a result of our capture and release.
Sean Van Sommeran has crushed this blog with a tonnage of text and I expect to see the same here. I’ve never even met the guy, but let me put a few things in perspective. Sean has created some new terminology that does cause me to LOL. “Long term resident researcher.” What is that? Do any of us really live in the same habitat as these awesome animals? I am a resident of California…does that count for something? In 2003 Sean took a trip to Guadalupe Island and initiated a tagging study…is he a resident of Guadalupe Island as well?
Sean states that tags become “harmful marine debris.” Does this include the license-plate-sized plastic things he plastered all over white shark at Guadalupe Island? These license plates were not treated with any sort of anti-fouling paint and they soon looked like artificial reefs bouncing off the backs of the sharks. But Sean does raise a good point; bio-fouling of electronic tags is a huge issue that not only effects tag performance but it can cause lesions, particularly in association with tethered tags. I have had many discussions with tag manufacturers about bio-fouling and it is not an easy problem to solve.
Sean also states that my work interferes with “long term resident researchers.” I disagree; what I am doing will collect data that is complimentary to ongoing studies. Sean forgot to mention that he directly interfered with my Guadalupe study by instructing a camera operator to physically remove one of my popup satellite tags from a white shark during a Shark Week shoot. It was pretty interesting to track that tag, via ARGOS, right past my lab on the I-5 on its way to Sean’s house.
This post is going to result in an avalanche of contradictory posts, and in advance I apologize to the world for that. I do think, however, that the people who visit this site deserve to hear the truth. In fact, I have found that many people like to criticize my research, or the show Shark Men, without ever watching the program. Watch the show….you might learn something. Check the Marine Conservation Science website (www.MarineCSI.org) or Facebook page (link to facebook.com)…you might see interesting updates. We are doing our best to contribute to the long term survival of one of the ocean’s most magnificent predators. Don’t let a very few vocal detractors keep you from making some new discoveries through our eyes.
Michael L. Domeier, Ph.D.
President
Marine Conservation Science Institute
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
38 
9
I watched Sharkman Sun. night. During the show, you mentioned this accusation. You said, and showed, that ya’ll have changed to a barbless hook. Why didn’t you mention that in your comments? I think that’s significant and shows that ya’ll are serious about taking good care of the sharks.
I have mixed feelings about all of this. But, I know that sharks are in extreme danger of disappearing, mostly because of human ignorance and disrespect. I love all of earth’s creatures dearly. I would much rather see everyone leave them alone completely, but it’s far too late for that. Good luck.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
17 
4
There was no tv gig when I personally funded this research in an effort to figure out where Farallon GW females were giving birth. So we could protect their future.
This whole ridiculous connection between the research and tv did not exist. There was no tv gig when this research was conducted.
Make sure you guys watch Shark Men two Sundays from now to see where Amy a mature female leads us.
We believe it to be the GW birthing ground, thousands of miles from where it was expected to be.
Remember, we are all after the same thing, a robust future for all shark.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
22 
9
Thanks for joining the discussion, Chris, and for all that you do with OCEARCH.
I, for one, will be tuning in to see that episode.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
12 
0
Thankfully we all got to see the video for ourselves…after seeing the video its obvious that Junior’s condition is not a result of Dr. Domeier’s research. I’m not a scientist, but even I can tell that Junior got in the way of another shark. Better to see the “The big picture” before throwing stones in a glass house!! Shame on those who started these rumors.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
20 
4
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
10 
31
Sorry Sean, I couldn’t help myself
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
22 
3
re: “Concise”
Sean, out of nearly 4,000 comments in the history of this blog, the ten wordiest comments have all been from you.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
18 
3
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
5 
27
I don’t care much for sharks, if that helps.
Sharks are sub-par, at best
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
19 
3
Whysharksmatter – I thought I read in the original thread, about a scientist in South Africa who claimed to have retrieved blood samples from a free-swimming white shark. Perhaps that was untrue or I misunderstood, if so, thanks for clarifying.
Thanks to Dr. Domeier and Mr. Fischer for chiming in and dispelling some misconceptions some of us non-scientists often have. It also helps to put into perspective the intentions of the methods used, knowing that the TV gig came after the methods were conceived. Hopefully you can understand how it might look to an outsider of the scientific community.
I really look forward to learning about these exciting new developments, and hope some mysteries are unlocked!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
11 
1
” I thought I read in the original thread, about a scientist in South Africa who claimed to have retrieved blood samples from a free-swimming white shark”
I’ll look into this further but I am unaware of any such technique. You can take tissue samples from a free swimming animal using biopsy darts or lances, but taking blood requires a needle.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
11 
1
Josh,
You are correct that a commenter in the previous thread claimed to have extracted blood from a free-swimming great white shark. I’m looking into it further. Apologies for my earlier comment.
Like or Dislike:
9 
0
Nice on you David. Glad to see some updates on the whole issue here. Which was the release of the image of Junior and not just his condition. While the poor condition of the animal on it’s return to the islands in the Fall of 2010 is a terrible thing, and it is, and every effort should be made to be sure that doesn’t happen due to interaction with man, the fact of the matter is that this is the result of the animal living in the wild. It happens. Why it happens is open to speculation on everything from little green men in spacesuits to the hook method. However… Speculation without fact is non empirical and isn’t worth much of anything. What is a fact and is unequivical is that someone took from a private video recording held by TOPP and made a deliberate release of a doctored and an out of context image. Why? If the whole of the image had been released then it would be simple to say the animal was bitten by another White Shark. That did not happen, rather an incomplete image was released. From the initial reactions I witnessed I beleive it was a deliberate ploy on the part of someone to stir up the controversy of the method used by Dr. Domeier. My first thought to my shame was, when I and others in my community saw that shot was, “Look what he did”. My second and more more rational thought was, “Wait a second, what’s missing”. What was missing was the bigger picture. In fact and metaphorically. My belief now and once I figured out the truth of the matter, regardless of the condition of the animal, is that the release was the action of the vocal opposition and of the professional competition pulling a dirty trick. They should be held accountable by NOAA, GFNMS and CA.DFG. A code of ethics is expected of anyone working in the field of research. There is no way that a proprietary image held by TOPP can be selectively cropped from a piece of video like this and be released unintentially. This was done intentionally. And no fast talking, subject changing, long winded, self important blow hard can say otherwise. If this was an unintentional release then let the responsible individual stand up and take credit and give a reason why exactly this bit of the video got put out. Why this image rather than the whole, this bit of a highly cropped, selectively shown still taken from a video image that shows all of the damage to the animal.
This is the same kind of infighting I’ve been seeing here at the Farallones for years and years and it needs to stop. If the people responsible for extracting the truth from our world can’t be responsible for their actions then they certainly can’t be responsible for the animals they study and their data and studies all become suspect.
And that’s my thoughts on the subjectn right now. I’m also wonderig why you were able to get a copy of the video by using the FOIA when I couldn’t… But that’s another issue for another time.
Regards,
Greg Barron
IA
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
21 
2
Thanks, Greg. I’m sorry that you had issues with FOIA. I contacted the relevant NOAA officials and had a copy of the film in my possession inside of three weeks at no charge.
Like or Dislike:
9 
0
I had asked Maria Brown at GFNMS on April 13th 2011 if it was a FOIA issue and was told that they were waiting to hear from their atty whether they could release the video. I never heard back. Glad to see that you got it and posted. Posting earlier would have saved a lot of time and energy.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
13 
1
I believe it was Craig Ferreira that made the blood sample statement though I couold be mistaken.
Like or Dislike:
8 
0
I’ll look into it, thanks!
Like or Dislike:
9 
1
You’re correct. I missed that claim in the flurry of comments on the earlier post.
Like or Dislike:
9 
1
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
6 
29
Inconceivable!
What’s with the paranoia? Not one of your comments has ever been removed. Heck, I’m not even the one manning the filters on this post.
Lighten up dude, you write long comments, at least have a sense of humor about it.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
19 
3
Maybe its your continual unsupported allegations that people are tired of? you are still claiming as fact that Junior’s condition is a direct or indirect result of the hooking. Well he has survived a year by himself, and performed a normal migration during this time, which is serious evidence against your theory. You cant use speculation as fact.
Like or Dislike:
10 
7
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
0 
24
David, if you had the relevant video inside 3 weeks that means that you asked for it just prior or at the same time to my requesting the same information on the 13th. I wonder why the subterfuge?
Like or Dislike:
10 
2
Yeah, I asked a few days before you. That’s weird. At least it’s out now.
Like or Dislike:
10 
1
I agree with Greg…really why does this Sean guy have it out for Dr. Domeier?? After reading all of his post is obvious he’s got a personnal vendetta..give it a rest already.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
19 
5
Thanks to those who shed light on my questions as to whether the shark was hammered while being caught or right after release. I only asked as I have seen two sharks hit by another while on a line.
Craig
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
11 
0
Certainly.
Question for you- was it you who said in the earlier post’s comments that you had drawn blood from a free-swimming great white? Can you provide more details on that, either as a comment or by e-mailing me?
Thanks!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
10 
0
Hi Debra,
The animal is still important. With the new data of population density here in the SF / North Coast area in, all the White Sharks we can keep swimming are good. On the bright side he’s still around and swimming. With that in mind let the studying begin.
Hoo-Rah Andrew.
Like or Dislike:
12 
4
There’s a lot of things that happen on that show that are cringe worthy to me, and I am sure the the people conducting the research don’t like everything that occurs to these sharks at all times.
However, this is what it’s come down to to protect not just this species, but several species over a wide range of the planet that would be affected by the disappearance of an extremely unique ocean predator.
If the fisheries and the fishermen around the planet had taken it upon themselves to protect the oceans decades ago, not because the law said to, but because they understood it was important to the planet, the species they fish, their predatory counterparts, and their own livelihoods, we wouldn’t be in this position. They failed miserably, and now we’re at the 11th hour for a lot of important species.
Everybody throws a fit when a biodegradable hook gets stuck or a tag might cause slight damage to the fin before any actual proof of long term damage is revealed. Well, how about worrying about that mass of garbage in the pacific that some of these sharks have to swim through to get to Hawaii. Or all the garbage that freighters and cruise ships dump outside harbors to cut costs.
Great whites are about to disappear with us literally knowing zilch about them. There’s just not a lot of choice or time left. Is there any new technique for handling or tagging animals that doesn’t have to be refined and practiced?
I mean if the video sabotage is coming from other scientists, that’s disgusting to me. Baiting hooks and dropping a cage in the water just isn’t going to cut it anymore. The progress into the insight about great whites that has been made since I was a little kid and now as I enter into my 30s is pathetic. It seems that in order to learn a lot more about not just great whites, but sharks in general, we’re going to have to use more unorthodox methods.
As amazing as it is to see a great white out of the water, I would love to never have to see another one get pulled up to do tests. All this controversy and scientific community infighting should be replaced with innovations to make it a reality.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
15 
1
For the record, I have been taking DNA samples at Guadalupe since 2002. No one ever asked, but honestly, it doesn’t bother me that Sean sent some sample to Mahmood; I’ve also give samples to Mahmood and we should all be working together.
If anyone cares to dig, you can find an enlightening/amusing discussion of the 2003 tag removal incident on Shark-L. If you really like digging, find out who owns this email address: [email protected]. That’s the source of this entire ridiulous witch hunt. Perhaps that person would like to explain why the public was led down that path?
That’s all I have to say on the subject.
Peace Out,
Michael
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
26 
6
Hi Chris,
Lots of good points there. Keep in mind though that the technology to do the things we can do now hadn’t even really been developed until just recently for the most part. Not to mention, have you ever tried working a deck in a pitching sea with even a 4 foot animal flailing around? It’s a difficult task at best. So, some of the information recovered at this point in time is just phenomenal and I commend all the folks that have struggled through adversity to get that small cache we do have. Sylvia Earle said once in the book “Sea Change”, I think it was, that we know more about the moon that we do about the ocean under our feet when we get in a small boat and push off the dock. I know my paraphrase mangled her statement horribly but you get the idea. We’re gonna learn, it’s gonna happen. I haven’t given up hope at least, it’s the last thing in the box. As to Whites out of water, I’ve seen 4500 pound animals 6 feet in the air do a half gainer and then a great belly flop a dozen times at least at the Farallones from the deck of our boat. They can take a little punishment.
If you are going to nail the fiherman here, you have to include all of us as well. Let’s not forget the water diversions inland that deplete the upstream fisheries for farmland or our own use of disposables. You are right about the garbage patches and gyres. Unbelievably horrible. It’s not too late though, we can make a difference. I hate to quote a bad cliche bumper sticker but… ready? Here it goes. Think globally, act locally.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
17 
2
Craig, funny you should ask about sharks on a line. One of my first speculations about the mouth injury to Junior prior to finding out about the doctored image was perhaps that the wound was caused by a longliner that had hooked into the animal and the animal escaped and sustained a large chaffing injury. Seemed to make sense at the time. Do you know if the sharks you had seen that had been partially consumed while on a line were dead prior to their being bitten? I’ve been up close and personal here and seen White Sharks feeding on a dead Blue Whale, the bites to the whale carcass were similar to the ones shown earlier in a reference up this thread. To be able to take large chunks involved a considerable amount of effort on the part of the feeding animals.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
13 
2
Poor guy, wish those sharkman would go and catch him, give him some snitches and cut that nasty wounds out. Now THAT would be something wouldn’t it, no?
Like or Dislike:
4 
0