A team of Marine Biologists, scientists and shark fishermen and women in Argentina are working hard together to change the culture around sport-fishing the wild coasts of Argentina. Blending citizen driven science and pioneering relationships between scientists and local shark fishermen, a new model to gather data and ultimately protect Argentina’s unknown and understudied populations of sharks is underway.

Every year WCS, the Wildlife Conservation Society chapter of Argentina is able to help fund a team working with local shark fishermen to catch, tag and release thousands of sharks instead of harvesting and killing them. Shark fishing drives local economies, supports local people and is a popular past-time for thousands of Argentinians and tourists throughout the country during spring and summer months.

Tapping into this resource of people and capture methods for Argentina’s sharks, this system of catch, tag and release is helping towards gathering new data and uncovering new information on populations, species distribution, migratory routes and effective protections.