Paul Clerkin from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science is researching sharks as part of his doctorate in marine ecology. He was on Will Watch in 2012 and 2014 when he found a dozen new shark species – a favourite being Chimaera willwatchi, aka the seafarer’s ghost shark, named after the Will Watch.
Paul has a number of things he wants to achieve on this current trip. He is trying to catalogue shark and bony fish species in the Indian Ocean while working on ways to better study sharks. He is also collecting samples to help with research about what these sharks eat, how big they are when they reproduce and how they use their ocean habitat.
“A lot of my work is identifying sharks and strange fish species using taxonomy and genetic methods.” Taxonomy is the branch of science concerned with the classification of something, especially organisms.
Occasionally sharks are caught and landed on board when fishing in the deep ocean, providing an opportunity to carry out important research on the dead fish.
Paul’s major hope is to encounter a shark species new to science and says even some of the regularly encountered species on Will Watch have never been scientifically documented. Describing and naming a species is a necessary first step in studying that species, he says.
“Without a name, scientists cannot communicate about a species, publish about it or make any kind of assessment about its populations. Establishing a biological baseline of data can also help researchers learn about these sharks and compare changes over time.”
He would also be excited to see ancient and rare shark species such as the fascinating looking goblin, frilled sharks and bigeye sand tigers. While these sharks are widely distributed globally, they are rarely seen or caught.
Paul says being on a commercial fishing vessel is a huge advantage to his research largely because of Will Watch’s infrastructure.
“It is kind of the dream to have fresh specimens arrive daily and my only obligation is to pursue my curiosity,” he says. “Securing access to a ship, crew and fishing equipment would normally require a major grant, which is difficult for even large institutions, let alone student researchers.”
Paul says the fisher knowledge accumulated by crew is also invaluable and, after years of underappreciating this knowledge, the scientific community is realising the merit of co-operating with crew who spend so long at sea.
"Even if I was given access to a research vessel, I wouldn’t know where to go and how to get my samples in the way that I can by piggy backing on Will Watch’s routine fishing. Some of the semi-regularly caught bycatch fish might be considered mundane in Will Watch’s factory, but it would make a fish taxonomist’s eyes pop out of his head.”
Paul hopes to work with the crew to determine how to improve species identification tools to make shark identifications swifter, more intuitive and more accurate. If time allows, he wants to collect other samples including tissues, stomach contents, parasites and a photo archive to be used for artificial intelligence identification models in the future.
“My sampling plan might be a little overambitious, but I think any samples and data I am able to collect will go a long way for a lot of future research.”
His research will go directly into his dissertation project and into smaller papers published in scientific journals. The species catalogue and the improved species guide will be used by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) and the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) to understand sharks in the area and hopefully improve the collection of shark data in the southwestern Indian Ocean.”
Will Watch Captain Christopher Neighbours says Paul’s findings of new shark species from 10 years ago were “pretty exciting”.
“He’s very passionate about his research and interested in the marine sciences, so it’s great that we’re able to accommodate him. Some of the contraptions he has and the science he wishes to achieve are fascinating.” Captain Neighbours says the crew is always keen to get involved and help “Paul the shark guy” out. “They have been putting aside even the smallest of specimens for him even when he’s not around. Some of the species of fish caught even after one week may be new to science – it’s pretty exciting.”
Sealord feeds Paul and provides him a bunk, and SIOFA also sponsors him. His university and the Smithsonian society provide some funding.
Captain Neighbours says the crew are looking at what they catch in a different way. “It’s early days, but already he has us gaining more appreciation in what lurks beneath in the great abyss. We do have our own guys and Cook Islands Scientific observers taking otoliths (small oval calcareous bodies in the inner ear of vertebrates), samples, sexing and measurements of our orange roughy and alfonsino every trip, but that’s fisheries stock management analysis. The research that Paul is doing is something else again.”
