Past Research | Ocean First Institute

Ocean First Institute conducts shark research to foster conservation success.

Marine Census in Las Catalinas, Costa Rica

The Las Catalinas project goal is to document and ultimately protect sensitive marine life in the Tropical East Pacific of Costa Rica. Through our local and international collaboration, we are conducting a scientific census of fish, sharks and rays at two sites on the northwest coast of the Guanacaste region. Our long-term goal is to collect baseline ecological data and resource-user patterns and provide that information to local fishery managers and communities for determining the best way to manage the resource for all users.

Hammerhead Shark Conservation in Gulfo Dulce, Costa Rica

Our work involves a collaboration with our partners, Mision Tiburon in Costa Rica. Together, we are investigating the regional decline in scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) sharks. Much of the decline has been attributed to the pressures of unsustainable and unregulated international shark fishing, predominantly for shark fins, within Costa Rican waters. In an effort to promote sustainability and protection of Costa Rican resources, the Institute has partnered with Mision Tiburon in an ongoing tagging project in Golfo Dulce. This is an area which has been protected from destructive fishing practices for nearly five years and is showing the resiliency of and a rebounding in populations of juvenile scalloped hammerheads. The sharks were tracked and Golfo Dulce was determined to be a critical shark nursery area, needing protection. In May, 2018 the President of Costa Rica declared Golfo Dulce as the world’s first hammerhead shark sanctuary!

We are collecting shark and ray ID and length data with the help of divers all over the world.

Our citizen science project goals are to engage divers in the process of scientific data collection and to report their findings in a free and open access database. Diver participation is key and will help us determine which species are present on reefs and in what numbers. We partner with dive operators in the Bahamas, and Florida to collect data using our underwater laser measuring devices. Contact us for more information on how to participate or to purchase you own laser measuring device, which you can use on every single dive you make!

Click Here for Database

Ocean First Institute partners to save a Colorado endangered fish species.

The Northern Redbelly Dace (NRD) is a minnow found throughout most of the Northern United States and Canada. Historically, the species has been present in the Rocky Mountain Region. Today, however, the species is considered endangered or severely threatened across much of its native habitat in Colorado, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Threats such as habitat alteration from human development and an expanded presence of non-native aquatic species has significantly limited the range of Northern Redbelly Dace in the region.

The Northern Redbelly Dace Recovery program aims to increase public awareness and peak student interest in the conservation of native species. The goal of the recovery project is to expand the range of healthy Northern Redbelly Dace populations in the state of Colorado. The project has won several local, national and international conservation awards. Through the project we have had students, teachers and biologists work together to raise and release over 2,200 fish back into the wild! You can learn more about the project here. This project would not be possible without all of our partnerships! This project has been generously funded by Boulder County Parks and Open Space Foundation, The Innovation Center, The Denver Zoo and the Lauren Townsend Memorial Foundation.