CSU Long Beach’s shark warning system in jeopardy as funds run dry
A warning system that alerts swimmers when sharks are lurking in Southern California ocean waters could be going instinct as funds have began to run dry. The shark warning alert system has been ope… The shark warning system at Cal State Long Beach, California, is in danger due to lack of funds. The Shark Lab at CSULB has operated the system since 2018, using a system of buoys, tags, and monitors to track the local population of white sharks. The system alerts swimmers when sharks are near 300 yards of the buoys. The lab received $3.75 million in funding that was supposed to fund the system for five years, but they managed to stretch the funding to six years. The director of the Shark Lab, Dr. Chris Lowe, says the lab needs $7.5 million by June to keep the system afloat and is relying on private donors.
प्रकाशित : 4 सप्ताह पहले द्वारा Austin Turner and Kareen Wynter में
A warning system that alerts swimmers when sharks are lurking in Southern California ocean waters could be going instinct as funds have began to run dry.
The shark warning alert system has been operated by the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach since 2018. Using a system of buoys, tags and monitors that track the local population of white sharks, sending an alert to local lifeguards when the sharks come within 300 yards of the buoys.
The Shark Lab’s director, CSULB professor of marine biology Dr. Chris Lowe, said the lifeguards receive links to their cellphones that he likened to baseball cards of the sharks in the area. Their profiles display their size, location and how long they’ve been at that beach.
The lab received $3.75 million that was supposed to fund the system for five years, though they managed to stretch the money to six years.
Now, they need more.
“We’ll have to pull all of the equipment out of the water because we won’t be able to maintain it [if we don’t receive more funding],” Lowe told KTLA’s Kareen Wynter. “We’ll have to stop tagging sharks because we won’t have the money to go out and do that. So the lifeguards won’t be getting that information, and that is used for public safety.”
Lowe says the lab needs $7.5 million in funding by June in order to keep the system afloat. They’re hoping that money can come from private donors.
Lowe said the lab has partners that benefit from their work, such as the NOAA and Department of Fish and Wildlife.