PREFACE 



In the summer of 1974, during the three day period 30 July through 

 1 August, a conference on shark research was held at the Naval Postgraduate 

 School in Monterey, California. Convened by the Oceanic Biology Program 

 (Code 484) of the Office of Naval Research, the conference brought together 

 a number of people concerned with sharks and shark research including 

 scientists and representatives of the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard and a 

 variety of Navy commands. The purpose of the conference was to assess the 

 present status of shark research and to discuss areas of potential future 

 research. The results of these discussions constitute the main portion of 

 this report and appear as Section III. 



The report itself was produced in rough form by the attendees during 

 the conference. The attendees were divided into three working groups 

 each with its own chairman: Whole Organism Studies, Dr. Richard H. Rosen- 

 blatt, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Studies of Systems and Organs, 

 Dr. Thomas B. Thorson, University of Nebraska; Studies of Sharks in Rela- 

 tion to Man, Mr. F. G. Wood, Jr., Naval Undersea Center, San Diego. Dr. 

 Rosenblatt also acted as overall chairman of the conference. Each working 

 group produced its own section of the final report. These sections were 

 combined and comments were solicited from all attendees which were then 

 incorporated into the final report. 



It is obvious that without the intensive and conscientious efforts of 

 all participants, this report could not have been completed in as short a 

 time. Sincere thanks are due to all of them and especially to the chairmen 

 who gave so willingly of their time. Thanks are also due to the faculty 

 and staff of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, particularly LCDR 

 Calvin Dunlap who handled the local arrangements. The facilities and 

 setting of the school were most conducive to the deliberations and success- 

 ful attainment of the goals of the conference. The help with logistics 

 provided by Ms. Mary Frances Thompson of the American Institute of Biolo- 

 gical Sciences is also appreciated. 



Finally, during the time that this report was in preparation, the 

 participants were saddened to hear of the unexpected passing away of one of 

 their members. Dr. Albert Tester of the University of Hawaii, who contri- 

 buted unstintingly of his time, knowledge of, and experience with sharks, 

 will be missed by his colleagues. His memory and the many contributions 

 he made to our knowledge of sharks will live on. 



Bernard J. Zahuranec 

 Editor and Workshop Convener 

 Washington, D.C. 

 April 1975 



IV 



