Stay Updated with Oceans Research News & Insights

The ocean is an amazingly beautiful and complicated place where creatures great and small have evolved amazing adaptations difficult to understand for Homo sapiens. Read more...

I had been interning at Oceans Research for five weeks the first time I saw a great white shark do a full breach. Read more...

We were driving in the back of a truck bed, six of us stuffed under blankets and sweatshirts, bundled up with our beanies and gloves, wind whipping our hair as we drove the winding mountain side watching the African sun set behind the snow capped mountains. “Is this a dream?” was all I could think. Read more...

Mossel Bay, 18 July, 2011 Read more...

If I were given the opportunity to live through December 2010 again, I honestly do not know if I would have signed up for the Oceans Research Internship. It’s not that I dislike the experience – to the extreme contrary! Read more...

After almost a month here at Oceans, I have learned that there is absolutely nothing about working with sharks that will ever get old. Read more...

So far I have only been here for six days and it has been an absolutely life changing experience for me. Read more...

After being accepted as an Oceans Research intern I was thrilled that I would have the opportunity to work with leading field experts in marine research and, more specifically, having the opportunity to work in close proximity with Great White sharks. Read more...

A couple of weeks ago an Italian film crew came to Mossel Bay to make a documentary on the research that Oceans does. Read more...

Some snippets from the January 2011 Interns Read more...

Let's hear from some of our interns: Read more...

I never knew it was possible for one single experience to define your life until now. Read more...

On our day of arrival we were met by a friendly bunch of people of all different nationalities but with a common interest, the conservation and public awareness of marine life. Read more...

As with any research project, there are factors that cannot be controlled. Read more...

As we boarded Cheetah, we immediately fell into our “pre-chumming” routine. Read more...

The month of October started off with a lot of big changes, switching from 12 interns to 4 in the house. Things have quieted down a bit but there is still a lot of work being done. Read more...

The day started with an early morning wake up, quite tough on a Saturday but we were all keen to help out! Read more...

September 25th was International Beach Clean-up Day. Meeting time was 8:00 AM, which apparently translates to 11:00 AM Mozambican time -- when the young kids from the local school finally arrived. Read more...

Pinocchio was the first shark that we tracked, so it was exciting to see where she went when she was not at Seal Island trying to steal our bait, whilst chumming. Read more...

Having been in Scottburgh for 3 weeks now, we have managed to get 13 dives in, 6 baited dives and 7 reef dives. Read more...

For the first time in my career as a marine mammal biologist, I saw one of my study animals dead. Read more...

Even though Zàvora isn't the place to see whale sharks – tourist haven Tofo a couple hours up the coast is – they do come sometimes. Read more...

As our ten-person car stuttered along the beautiful coastline of Mossel bay towards the Ocean’s Office & House, feelings of excitement and nervousness began to set in. Read more...

You wake up around 7AM from the sunshine beaming through your window and make the decision of whether you want to make breakfast or not. Read more...

Although we enjoy greatly the aquatic fauna of Walvis Bay (Namibia), we were quite happy when Simon accepted to let us have 3 days off in a row, which allowed us to visit the one of the world’s greatest wildlife reserves: Etosha National Park, 20 000 sq km of inland protected habitats, around the Etosha Pan, a huge flat and saline desert that is transformed in a lagoon during the rainy season. Read more...

It’s been an active week at the aquarium. Read more...

It seems to be a season of many strandings. Read more...

Hello! My name is Caroline and I am currently an intern at the Namibia Dolphin Project. I arrived here on the 1st of July from the UK. Read more...

Since the last time we blogged, the weather has greatly improved and we were able to go back to diving! Last Saturday and Wednesday, we did two “shark” dives. Read more...

Since arriving in Scottsburgh, we have gone on seven dives in about 10 days. Read more...

Last week (22-26 June) we tracked Pinocchio, a 2.3m female great white shark with two continuous tags providing us information on her swimming depth, water temperature at that depth and muscle temperature, every second. After a lot of cold nights and long days we managed to break the current record for continuous manual tracking of a great white. Our new record is 106 hours. Read more...

Not every moment spent at the Oceans research station in Mossel Bay can be devoted purely to the chumming and tracking of great white sharks. In order to fully understand the hunting and feeding behavior of these sharks, it is necessary to spend some time looking at the driving factor behind their actions; the seals (actually sea lions) of Seal Island. Read more...

Having arrived in Mossel Bay just a couple of days previously, Monday morning found our group of new interns chumming for white sharks just off Seal Island. Having been prepared to spend an hour or two waiting for our first glimpse of dorsal fin, we were almost unprepared when, within 10 minutes, the first shark appeared at our bait. Read more...

Last weekend, April 10th and 11th, the four interns got their first weekend off of the month. Jethro, Leisbeth, Rodney and I, Renae, decided to go for a road trip to Cango and the surrounding towns. Read more...

Working with Oceans here in Mossel Bay is an amazing experience. We are currently a group of four interns, Rodney, Rachel, Jethro and myself, Nick. I flew directly from my cold country to the warm and more attractive climate of South Africa. I have only been here for two weeks and I already made a lot of wonderful experiences. Read more...

The first two weeks of February have been a week of arrivals of departures of personnel. Read more...

The final week of November was also the final week for several of the interns. Read more...

Mossel Bay had turned into a ghost town with no sharks to be seen for about one month. The Oceans Research team were starting to get worried, with the occasional 2.5m passing through Grootbrak but no sign of shark activity at the island since September 29th; where have they gone?! Read more...

Slow week for sharks, but we are getting plenty of exercise in elasmobranch anatomy. Read more...

On October 1, 2009 a new, green lot of interns arrived at Mossel Bay eager to get to work. Wasting no time, the program leaders got us out on the boat and down to business, chumming for sharks around Seal Island. Read more...

During the beginning of the week two of us went at sea with Simon Elwen and Ryan Johnson, to make a whale survey offshore. Read more...

This story really begins 2 weeks ago with a crazy Italian man, a spear gun, 3 tags and one promiscuous shark.....tracking had begun! Read more...

It is the beginning of my last weekend here... Read more...

Here in Mossel Bay we have 80% more Science! Read more...

There are a lot of things to discover and to learn when you arrive for an internship at Oceans. Read more...

The week began with an introduction to tracking from Oli for those of us who hadn't done it before. Read more...

Nights on seal survey are amazingly interesting (counting seals, creating bioluminescence, watching Enrico do charades, looking out for sharks, and wondering if the southern hemisphere is ever going to get its seasons right). Nights on seal survey are amazingly cold, too. And having people forget to bring sleeping bags certainly does not help. Read more...

“The National Weather Service in Cape Town, Western Cape South Africa has issued a gale warning for the entire coast of the Western Cape- Winds are expected to reach 70-80km/h and waves are expected to reach over 15m. Ocean going vessels, especially small craft are urged to seek immediate safe harbour.” Read more...

“Port Control, Port Control, coming from Cheetah, over!” Read more...

Our adventure of tracking Alek in Mossel Bay, like everything in doing research, had its ups and downs and in the last 3 days we have fully experienced it. Read more...

We change over at 9 am and surprise surprise... Read more...

During the 1-9am shift (which is pretty brutal hours on the sleep but very exciting none the less!) Alek the Great White headed back to the Island after we took over from Ryan and his team and went about its sharky business swimming in circuits round and round, possibly on the look out for lone seals. Read more...

Alek decided to leave Seal Island as soon as we took over the shift. Read more...

Five interns went chumming in the morning with Oceans director Enrico with the intention of tagging a white shark to track it at least for the next 48 hours. Read more...

The beginning of each new month is always a busy and exciting time at Oceans, the beginning of May has been no exception. Read more...

As summer draws to an end and winter sets in, we believe big sharks to be coming into the area. Read more...

With the new year comes new projects and goals for the Oceans team. Read more...

This week was a week of excitement and change here at Oceans. Read more...

This past week afforded the Oceans interns a very special opportunity to get experience researching marine life other than Great Whites. Read more...

The new year got off to a fabulous start at Oceans Research (previously known as SAMPLA). Read more...

As exciting as it is to wake up every morning to the familiar smell of frozen fish, hurl blood and fish guts by the bucket load on a nearly daily basis, and occasionally be rewarded by a lucky glimpse of a out-of-water breaching white shark or attempted seal predation, It is the passion and dedication of the team of SAMPLA directors, that is a joy to watch and an honour to work alongside with. Read more...

Local school children were captivated by The Oceans team the past couple of weeks when we invited them to educational talk hosted by Oceans Education in conjunction with Sharklife, at the Diaz Museum in Mossel Bay. Read more...

As a 3-monther, SAMPLA has not only become my home, it has become a way of life. Read more...

SAMPLA crew were still feeling the flip side of exciting research this week. Read more...

It was a slow week at SAMPLA. Read more...

This new week started quite slowly for SAMPLA interns with a day-off in order to rest from the previous weekend spent at sea with a filmmaking crew. Tuesday was dedicated to chumming and monitoring Great White Sharks in Mossel Bay. Read more...

The main focuses this week were the arrivals of new interns and sorting out a new home for our adopted green turtle, now nicknamed Crush (like the Turtle in Finding Nemo). Read more...

For incoming interns, present interns and leaving interns the experiences gathered at SAMPLA are never the same. Read more...

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The week started full of anticipation of finding and hopefully tagging one of the 5m sharks seen on Friday evening. Read more...

After many heartfelt goodbyes and promises of reunions from the departing September interns, the remaining three interns (Victoria, Beverly and Simone) welcomed the next batch of interns to the SAMPLA family Wednesday afternoon. Read more...

It was another eventful week for the SAMPLA team. With the majority of the interns back in action after a bout of illnesses, attempts were once again made to relocate our runaway shark, now renamed Xena. Read more...

The theme for SAMPLA’s progress this week is A for effort. Read more...

On Sunday September 14, 2008, a stranded seal thought to have come from the Southern Antarctic islands washed up in Mossel Bay. Read more...

The SAMPLA team set out on another tracking adventure on Thursday. Read more...

After being out of action due to engine problems, there was news that Cheetah (the other SAMPLA boat) was finally repaired and ready to hit the water again. Read more...

With the onset of cold and particularly windy conditions over the 1st weekend of September, SAMPLA operations temporarily ceased after an eventful, shark-filled week. Read more...

For one of the first times since “Sharkville” was released, SAMPLA crew members were able to witness a night time predation of a white shark on a seal near Seal Island. Read more...

This week, the SAMPLA team’s objective was to tag a shark and track it for 48 hours. Read more...

On Monday 11th August, a SAMPLA team including Ryan, Ed, Christine, Nico and Amy anchored by Seal Island to do some chumming. Read more...

One of the most magnificent sights to witness in the natural world is a great white shark breeching on and successfully killing a seal. Read more...

Until recently the main reason for the interns to visit ‘the Point’ area after a day at sea was to unwind in ‘Big Blu’, a laid back bar with spectacular views over the ocean. Read more...

Never before has any research group attempted to observe seal movements for a 24 hour period. Read more...

SAMPLA team managed to tag a large 3,8 meter white shark (which was previously tagged with a satellite tag) following it for a day and an half inside and outside Mossel Bay. Read more...

SAMPLA scientist Enrico Gennari went to the Natal Shark Board last week to dissect some white sharks for his PhD. Read more...

The first time you cruise around Seal Island and get a good smell of the 4,500 seals your nose wrinkles but eventually you get used to the smell. Read more...

Cape fur seals are readily abundant here in the chilly waters off the coast of South Africa. In the heart of Mossel Bay lies an island that 4400 seals have colonized and made their resting spot. Unfortunately for the fur seals, there is a constant patrol of great white sharks. The seals have to be extremely agile and quick to avoid the stealth and teeth of the white sharks and therefore watching their behaviour as they travel to and from the island can be quite difficult. Read more...

SAMPLA reached another new milestone when they tagged another white shark on the outskirts of Seal Island. The 2.9 meter female was tagged on the South African holiday, Youth Day, which inspired the shark’s name, ‘Kiddo’. Read more...

Watching a shark jumping completely out of the water in a full attack is impressive enough, but witnessing it, two days in a row, a few meters behind the boat was just stunning. Read more...

Enrico's team: Read more...

Stephen’s team: Read more...

This is a report of the most exciting moments from the recent 72 hour-tracking straight from the interns’ mouths. Read more...

Today, SAMPLA launched its second major tracking effort of 2008. Read more...

These are the first impressions of two interns who arrived just few days ago: Read more...

We successfully completed a twenty four hour tracking session of Sampla, our first tagged shark. Read more...

As anticipated in the last blog episode, SAMPLA has tagged its first white shark, a female of 2.7-2.8 meters (around 9 feet) long, which we named “Sampla”. Read more...

Here at SAMPLA, we like to be called “dirty” scientists – perhaps a little ambiguous but it basically refers to us getting our work done in the field, with the smell of rotting fish and the ocean swell, rather than in an office (which is sometimes required, too!) Read more...

The world is still full of challenges. The main thing is you have to look for them, things just don’t happen all by themselves… So seek out adventures, as long as you can find them, as long as you can tackle them with energy and all of your effort, you’ll succeed on them.” SIR EDMUND HILLARY Read more...

The Megalodon, Meg, (Carcharodon megalodon), is a prehistoric shark, amongst the largest and most formidable of the extinct marine predators. Read more...

This week saw SAMPLA travel to the Breede River in the Western Cape Province to search for South Africa’s most southerly population of Zambezi (bull) sharks. Read more...