Dive into Shark Week with SciStarter
It's shark week! Celebrate by getting involved in one of the many citizen science projects that study and protect sharks. Find even more projects with the SciStarter Global Project Finder.
The SciStarter Team
Photo: Lisa Schroeter
South African Elasmobranch Monitoring (ELMO) needs help to monitor small sharks and rays along the coasts of Mozambique and South Africa. Reports of eggcases on beaches and sharks in the water are both valuable.
Wildbook for Whale Sharks
To protect whale sharks, we need to be able to identify specific individuals. Volunteers can submit photographs and sighting data, and advanced software identifies the individual shark based on its markings.
Photo: Kelli Shaw
Sevengill Shark Identification Project
Divers in the San Diego area and in South Africa are needed to photograph sevengill sharks and upload the pictures, along with sighting details, to this project. With this information, we can learn what areas the sharks visit and if the same sharks return from year to year.
With this global database, you can submit any sightings of sharks worldwide. You can even report news coverage of shark sightings!
eShark & Great Fiji Shark
If you live in Fiji, or if you're planning a visit, your help is needed for this project. Divers can report shark sightings to a large database, which will be used to inform conservation.
Secchi Dip-In 2016 measures water quality throughout July. Find out more here.
Want to learn more about the field of citizen science?