Swimming with Sharks

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Burghardt met Michael Heithaus of Simon Fraser University through a friend of her family and has spent the last three summers on Heithaus' research team. They are investigating the relationships between the more than 500 dolphins and thousands of tiger sharks in one of the largest, most pristine seagrass ecosystems in the world. Over the years the researchers have been amazed at how many dolphins have fled the area and how many more sharks now populate the bay.

Heithaus began studying tiger sharks, he has written, "...in an attempt to understand their movements, predatory behavior, and how these sharks influence prey species like dolphins, turtles, and dugongs." Sharks are tracked with a Global Positioning System and followed with a Crittercam. The Crittercam, loaned to the project by National Geographic magazine, records information on the sharks' depth and feeding habits using a video camera and small computer. National Geographic also provided a grant and is filming the project.

Sharks have gotten an undeservedly bad reputation from misleading media images. "If you don't bother them, they won't bother you," Burghardt explained. To film the sharks, Burghardt and the film crew got in the water with the five-foot to thirteen-foot tiger sharks. Burghardt measured sharks, tagged them, and took DNA samples, at no time feeling in any danger. "We haven't had a problem so far. It's wonderful! It's really a thrilling experience! A couple of them have been very curious. They'll kind of circle you to check you out. If they get too close, you just shove them away with a broom handle, and they're okay with that."

In 1998, Burghardt, Heithaus, and local fishermen helped Western Australia's Department of Conservation and Land Management rescue dolphins and sea animals trapped when a mining company closed off a twenty-six square-kilometer portion of the bay for evaporation and salt mining. "They happened to do it at the season when all the animals come in for breeding," said Burghardt. Dolphins, loggerhead turtles, and green turtles were among the animals that would have died as the ocean dried. During the rescue operation, Burghardt was a spotter from a helicopter and worked on boats as they caught all thirteen dolphins trapped in the area. Spreading a net and surrounding the dolphins, the rescuers closed in until they could capture them. "We would grab them and flip them in a sling and then onto the boat," explained Burghardt. They released them into the ocean on the other side of the bridge forming the salt mine.

The rescuers were able to save twenty-eight of the hundreds of turtles. Eyes shining, Burghardt described the rescue of the massive turtles. "We were on the front of the boat, chasing after the turtles at full speed. If we were close enough, we would dive off the front, grab onto the shell, and bring them up to the shore."

Burghardt loves all animals-from the banana slugs she caught and named when she was a child in Chico to the loggerhead turtles and the tiger sharks she swims with today in Western Australia. In the fifth grade, her dream was to become a marine biologist. Although CSU, Chico is far from an ocean, Burghardt has been able to make that dream come true.

by Barbara Alderson, University Publications