ANGARI sponsors and donors participated as citizen scientists in an exciting day of shark research, alongside scientists from Florida International University onboard R/V ANGARI.
EXPEDITION DETAILS
July 19, 2025
Palm Beach County, FL
Michelle Debbaut
Sophia Hemsi
William Sample
Davon Strickland
Alondra Vidales
All sharks were fished for, caught, studied and released for research purposes under Florida permits held by Florida International University scientists.
The ANGARI Foundation Board of Directors welcomed sponsors and donors aboard R/V ANGARI for a hands-on Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks (COE:Sharks) expedition in partnership with scientists from Florida International University’s College of Arts, Sciences and Education (FIU). The ANGARI crew and FIU scientists led the guests through a day in the life of a COE: Sharks student. The team ventured offshore of Palm Beach County to deploy and recover drumlines, a type of specialized fishing gear for shark research.
To kick off the expedition, the participants gathered in the onboard laboratory to learn more from the FIU scientists about the biology of sharks, what species they might encounter in Palm Beach County and the exciting research projects happening through the FIU and ANGARI partnership.
Once on site, the participants assisted FIU scientists in setting up and deploying drumlines, with a total of 15 drumlines deployed throughout the day. Their hard work soon paid off! The team successfully caught eight sharks, including four nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum), two sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) and two tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier). Once the scientists safely secured each shark to the stern of the vessel, the team began the data collection process. The sponsors and donors participated in hands-on fieldwork and assisted the FIU team with measuring the precaudal length (PCL), fork length (FL) and stretched total length (STL), taking fin clip tissue samples and tagging each shark with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cooperative Shark Tagging Program (NOAA CSTP) identification tags.
It was a busy day for everyone onboard with so many successful captures! It was an amazing opportunity for sponsors and donors to experience the COE:Sharks program firsthand and see how their support provides unique and impactful opportunities for middle and high school students.
This expedition was supported by the generous donors of ANGARI Foundation.
CHIEF SCIENTIST
Will Sample is a Ph.D. candidate in the Marine Community and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Florida International University. His current research uses both long-term historical datasets and newer methods, such as high-resolution accelerometry, to study the movement and behavioral ecology of juvenile bull sharks. He specifically focuses on the way these sharks may be transporting nutrients across habitat boundaries, how they may be optimizing their movements to save energy and what the long-term implications of different behaviors they specialize in may be. Will’s research in the Florida Everglades studying the ways sharks move through this crucial ecosystem is important for conservation and informing habitat restoration and management efforts. Will earned a B.S. in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Florida Atlantic University in 2018 and has lived all throughout Florida for most of his life, from Jacksonville to Jupiter to the Keys. He is passionate about community outreach and education, particularly regarding Florida’s natural habitats, and currently serves as lead scientist for ANGARI’s Palm Beach County based Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks program aboard R/V ANGARI.
