.04 The Great Eggcase Hunt
While researching the many egg cases I collected on my most recent beachcombing trip, I came across an identification photograph on Facebook posted by the Assateague Island National Seashore account. Along with that photograph was information about the Great Eggcase Hunt and a link to learn more.
Photo via Assateague Island National Seashore Facebook | SharkTrust.org
The Great Eggcase Hunt is a program started by the Shark Trust, which is a UK-based non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening protective laws regarding sharks, skates, and rays and educating the general public on why these animals are so important to the ocean ecosystem and how they can help out. One of these “Citizen Scientist” projects is the Great Eggcase Hunt.
How it works: After finding a skate or shark egg case, you need to identify it before recording your find for the program. To do this, take it home with you and gently brush off any remaining sand or debris. It needs to be rehydrated to be correctly identified, so you’ll submerge your egg case in a bowl of clean water for a few hours, depending on how dry it was when you found it. After rehydrating, visit the Shark Trust online for ID charts or download their app in the App Store or Google Play store. The Shark Trust has several identification resources available on their website, all region specific. Submissions to the program are open worldwide; you do not have to be in the UK.
How to identify and submit your finds
Great Eggcase Hunt poster for the US Eastern Seaboard
In addition to the Great Eggcase Hunt, their other Citizen Scientist projects include a Shark Log for shark sightings, The Great Shark Snapshot, which is a photography program for divers, and their Angling Project. This is the one I was most interested in learning more about. Sharks are such a vital part of our ocean ecosystems and without them, we would be in a lot of trouble. Shark fishing has long been frowned upon, and rightly so, considering a lot of anglers used to go out there with zero knowledge or education on the sport or how to handle the animal, and then that ignorance would lead to the death of the shark. Thankfully, that’s not my recent experience.
Coastal Appalachian Outdoors is a company my husband and his friends started earlier this year. Their goal is to educate the general public on the sport of land-based shark fishing and offer guide service to people who are interested in catching and tagging their own shark. They were able to start tagging these sharks for the NOAA Fisheries Service a few months ago, and will now be able to record these catches for the Shark Trust as well.
I hadn’t heard about this organization or their programs before so I really wanted to highlight their projects in a journal post. The more people who are aware and educated on the subject, the more we can do for the sharks, skates, and rays.