Shark Research Committee

Founded in 1963 as a 501 (c) 3, tax-exempt, non-profit scientific research organization, the Shark Research Committee's primary goal was to assist the Smithsonian Institution and Office of Naval Research in documenting shark attacks from the Pacific Coast of North America. This initial objective was soon broadened to include conducting original research on the general biology, behavior and ecology of shark indigenous to waters off the Pacific Coast, with particular emphasis on potentially dangerous species.

Early in this research, it was determined that the White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) was the species indicted for the majority of shark attacks recorded along the Pacific Coast of North America. As a consequence, a preponderance of the data gathered by the Shark Research Committee over the last five decades on shark/human interactions from the West Coast relates specifically to the White Shark. In fact, the White Shark is deemed responsible for, or highly suspect in, 87% of all recorded unprovoked shark attacks on humans that occurred off the Pacific Coast during the Twentieth Century.

Our current public service and research programs include;

• Shark Conservation and Education
• Extraction of DNA from Shark's Teeth
• Analysis of Shark Attacks Along the Pacific Coast of North America
• Pacific Coast Shark News (web site public service)
• Predatory Behavior of the White Shark
• Ecology of the White Shark along the Pacific Coast of North America
• Social Behavior of the White Shark
• Development of a noninvasive shark deterrent