Public Domain Picture: July 20, 2012 Sand Tiger Shark

This wild eyed shark was an exciting sight for EPA divers earlier this summer while studying Duxbury Bay, an estuary in southern Massachusetts. What is an estuary? Estuaries are incredibly important areas where the ocean meets freshwater from rivers and streams. Protected by natural land barriers from the full force of nature’s elements, such as waves and storms, estuaries are naturally good places for many species to live; especially for reproduction and nursery habitats for young marine life. As you might expect, their location also makes them incredibly vulnerable to human impacts; development, runoff, and pollution to name a few. EPA studies estuaries around the United States to better understand their health and our environmental impacts. Knowing that, we can help to create better solutions to protect them. Tracking species diversity, the type and quantity of life, is extremely important when studying the environment. EPA is documenting species diversity to illustrate the important role estuaries play in supporting marine life and how critical good water quality is to maintaining a diverse and healthy coastal ecosystem. During this particular dive operation, EPA was working with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and Jeff Kneebone, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts who has been studying juvenile sand tiger sharks in this area. This shark is less than four feet long. U.S. EPA photo by Eric Nelson and Phil Calarusso

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Diving, Epadivers, Marineecosystem, Marinelife, Newengland, Sandtigershark

May 15, 2014