Independence Middle School students and educators spent a day offshore of Palm Beach County participating in shark research alongside scientists from Florida International University’s College of Arts, Sciences and Education (FIU) onboard R/V ANGARI.
EXPEDITION DETAILS
September 25, 2025
Palm Beach County, FL
Michelle Debbaudt
Mia Gabb
Sue-Lin Lam
Andrew Natter
William Sample
All sharks were fished for, caught, studied and released for research purposes under Florida permits held by Florida International University scientists.
Students and educators from Independence Middle School had the opportunity to spend the day onboard R/V ANGARI with scientists from Florida International University’s College of Arts, Sciences and Education (FIU) to experience a day in the life of a shark scientist during a Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks program! This group of students are a part of SciQuest Academy, an inquiry based science program at Independence Middle School.
Students began the day assembling and deploying a baited underwater remote video system (BRUVS), a research tool that is primarily used for underwater population studies. The BRUVS consists of a metal frame, bait cage and underwater camera that sits on the seafloor for at least one hour recording anything that comes into the frame of the camera. During the waiting period, students and educators put their marine species identification skills to the test by working with FIU scientists to identify different marine species local to Palm Beach County. Once the BRUVS is brought back onboard, the team heads offshore to begin their day of shark research!
Offshore, students assembled drumlines, a specialized type of fishing gear used for shark research, alongside the science team. Each drumline is equipped with a concrete weight, monofilament line, a circle hook, bait and a marked buoy. The team deployed a total of 20 drumlines throughout the day, with one line having caught a bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas)! The science team sprung into action, safely securing the shark to the stern of R/V ANGARI. Once the shark was safely secured, students observed and learned alongside the scientists as they performed an efficient shark workup. The workup included taking several measurements, collecting tissue and blood samples, tagging the shark with a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cooperative Shark Tagging Program (NOAA CSTP) identification tag and performing a fecal swab. Finally, the sex of the shark was determined by feeling for the presence of claspers, which are modified fin appendages found on the underside of male sharks. This particular bull shark happened to be a beautiful 7.7 ft long female! The students cheered as the science team safely sent the shark swimming off back into the blue waters of Palm Beach County.
After an eventful day of buoy tosses, hauling lines and sharks, the team brought all their gear back onboard and headed back into the Lake Worth Lagoon to review their BRUVS footage and debrief on the eventful day. Though the teams’ BRUVS footage only revealed the murky water of Lake Worth Lagoon on a rising tide, the students were able to take a deep dive into how FIU scientists work with bull sharks in Palm Beach County and the Florida Everglades. It was another awesome day of experiential learning with Independence Middle School and FIU scientists!
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.
