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About the 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 Leonard P. Schultz of the Smithsonian Institution and the Office of Naval Research in documenting shark attacks from the Pacific Coast of North America. This primary objective was later broadened to include shark conservation, in addition to conducting research on the general biology, behavior and ecology of the sharks 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.

Results from some of the Shark Research Committee's research on shark attacks along the Pacific Coast of North America have been published in scientific journals and a definitive new reference book, "Shark Attacks of the Twentieth Century - from the Pacific Coast of North America."

      

Pacific Coast Shark News  —  Current shark activities along the Pacific Coast of North America, including; attacks, encounters, observations, and predations available here.

Web Site Updates

You are invited to return for frequent updates to our pages. The following are the most recent:

Current and Ongoing Projects

• Shark Conservation and Education
• Analysis of Shark Attacks Along the Pacific Coast of North America
• Pacific Coast Shark News (web site public service)
• DNA Extraction Shark Teeth
• Predatory Behavior of the White Shark
• Functional Morphology of the White Shark
• Ecology of the White Shark along the Pacific Coast of North America
• Social Behavior of the White Shark
  

Public Outreach Program

Sharks and their interactions with humans are notoriously difficult to study. The Shark Research Committee has long relied on the kindness and generosity of a great many interested persons who contributed shark specimens or information/photos/video detailing their shark attack, shark encounter(s), and observations of shark predation.

The Shark Research Committee is interested in establishing a network of interested volunteers willing to assist its various research programs along the Pacific Coast of North America.  Such research assistants might include:

•  Pacific Coast commercial fishermen willing to share their shark experiences and/or perhaps donate any large or unusual shark specimens
• Individuals willing to collect data on Pacific Coast shark attacks, predations, or encounters on behalf of the Shark Research Committee

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer and assisting with our research please contact Ralph S. Collier.

The material contained on this Web site is shared as a public service and to further the scientific goals of the Shark Research Committee.  All text and images on this Web site are the exclusive property of the Shark Research Committee.  Information on this Web site may be used for private study, but may not otherwise be published, duplicated, or modified in any way without the prior written permission of Ralph S. Collier.