ONR SHARK RESEARCH 651 



what was known about sharks and their hazards. As such, it is a landmark in 

 elasmobranch biology. 



The Shark Research Panel, under the chairmanship of Gilbert, became an 

 adjunct of the AIBS Hydrobiology Committee and met 31 times from 1958 

 to 1970 (Appendix) to review the status of elasmobranch research. 



One of the first recommendations of the Shark Research Panel was that a 

 comprehensive program of basic studies on the taxonomy, behavior, and 

 functional anatomy of dangerous sharks was essential to understanding the 

 shark hazard. This recommendation has guided the shark research program 

 of the ONR Oceanic Biology Branch through the years. 



The early research efforts consisted of several projects to lay the necessary 

 groundwork. The first and longest was establishment of the International 

 Shark Attack File under the sponsorship of the AIBS, Cornell University, the 

 Smithsonian Institution, and ONR. While active data collection for this 

 project ended in 1970, computer-assisted analysis of the data took time to 

 complete. The final report represents the most complete analysis of shark 

 incidents ever undertaken (Baldridge 1974). Since 1970, reports of shark 

 incidents have been added to the Shark Attack File only sporadically. 

 Though the basic research phase of this project has been completed, and 

 continued collection of information is really only record keeping, there is no 

 doubt that it is important; efforts are being made to continue the project on 

 a more active basis. 



Other projects that might be considered as laying groundwork included 

 research on the taxonomy of several of the poorly known groups of sharks, 

 such as the hammerhead and requiem sharks, and construction of facilities 

 for maintaining sharks and conducting experiments on them under 

 controlled but seminatural conditions. Examples of such facilities were the 

 shark pens at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences of 

 the University of Miami, the shark pens at the Lerner Marine Laboratory of 

 the American Museum of Natural History in the Bahamas, and the pools at 

 the former site of the Mote Marine Laboratory. Another example of a 

 specialized, innovative facility that led to an increased understanding of the 

 behavior of some species of sharks (as well as other kinds of fish) was the 

 remotely operated underwater television camera at the Lerner Marine 

 Laboratory in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, these facilities are no longer used 

 for elasmobranch research. 



Elasmobranch research grew with a number of projects supported by 

 ONR, and as a result of ONR's leadership, by the navies of other countries. 

 For example, the first Inter-American Naval Marine Biological Conference, 

 held in Puerto Rico in 1966, brought together representatives of the research 

 arms of most of the Latin American navies. One item of mutual interest for 

 discussion at the conference was the problem of personnel protection under 

 emergency survival conditions, including the hazard of shark attacks. Other 

 conferences dealing with elasmobranch research were sponsored wholly or in 

 part by ONR as the shark research program grew. From January 30 to 

 February 4, 1966, a conference entitled "Current Investigations Dealing with 

 Elasmobranch Biology" was held at the Lerner Marine Laboratory at Bimini, 



