Would you get close to a hungry shark? SBHS students do.

Through the Marine Magnet program South Broward High School students have the chance to go out and work with a professional shark research team and tag sharks.

All students that go on the trip are required to wear there bulldog blue reef shirts; the field trip takes place in Key Biscayne.

Ms.Hixon, the coordinator of the marine magnet program at SBHS says, “The boat ride is usually about an hour long trip.”

The location for tagging sharks is predetermined by a GPS.

Once they are out in Crandon they drop down a drumline.

A drumline for shark tagging is a trap used to lure sharks using bated hooks.

Once the shark is hooked on to the hook on the drumline there is a buoy connected to it. So when there is a shark swimming around you could tell that the shark is hooked on.

The UM research team then pulls the shark up on a platform.

After that the kids are allowed to examine and look at the shark up close. The kids also take biopsys of muscle from the shark, clip there fin, take measurements, and tag the shark.

Tagging is useful for checking travel patterns of sharks; they use a satellite to track the sharks.

The next shark tagging field trip is on Novenmber 18, 2017.