National Shark Research Consortium
Florida Program for Shark Research - Florida Museum of Natural History
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Florida Program for Shark Research Brochure
Research Program Seeks Boat Donation
The Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) is located on the campus of the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville. It was chartered in 1917 as the State's official natural history museum and is fully accredited by the American Association of Museums. The Florida Program for Shark Research (FPSR), directed by George H. Burgess, currently includes the Commercial Shark Fishery Observer Program (CSFOP), the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), other research initiatives, and a major website focusing on shark research, fishery management and conservation. The CSFOP, now in its tenth year, monitors the U.S. East Coast commercial bottom longline fishery, providing much-needed fishery and life history data for resource managers which is particularly useful in developing shark population assessments. The ISAF, a compendium of scientific investigations of all known shark attacks on humans, is maintained at the FLMNH and is operated in cooperation with the American Elasmobranch Society (AES), the international scientific organization of researchers studying sharks and their relatives. The FLMNH website is the largest and most frequently accessed elasmobranch site on the World Wide Web and provides educational material about sharks and their kin, as well as serving as the host site for the AES, NSRC, IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group, ISAF, and CSFOP. The primary objectives and public service of projects conducted by FLMNH through the Florida Program for Shark Research include:
- Conduct studies on the relative abundance and distribution of sharks.
- Produce basic and applied studies on the biology, ecology and behavior of coastal and pelagic elasmobranchs.
- Actively engage in promoting the goals of international elasmobranch conservation.
- Conduct studies on the systematics, zoogeography and evolutionary relationships of sharks.
- Investigate, compile and synthesize information on shark attack.
- Provide educational and technical training of students and raise public awareness about elasmobranchs through dispensation of advisory information and educational materials.
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