SharkStuff in 2016 – What a Year!
18th December 2016 | by Georgia French2016 has been as incredible year for SharkStuff, and not least because we officially become a Small Charity! Here's a whistle-stop tour in pictures of some of our achievements and activities.
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We were delighted to attend the very first national UK shark festival – SharkFest. Hosted by Fin Fighters in Bristol, the day was jam packed with over 40 stalls from organisations around the world, and visitors from across the UK and Europe! We loved talking to the public about Dorset’s sharks and rays.
We got some lovely educational and promotional materials made by some equally lovely people.
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Our beautiful Dorset Dorsals poster, designed by Martin Willis martin@martinwillis.com
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Our stunning banner design by EDNA designs was made into an actual banner for events!
We built our first Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) unit, and deployed it across a range of locations along the Dorset coast in search of sharks and rays.
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A lovely black sea bream caught on film by our BRUV in Studland Bay! We’ll be scaling up our BRUV surveys in 2017.
We’ve loved building a relationship with Dorset Wildlife Trust and had an absolutely cracking time surveying for sharks with them, onboard Swanage Sea Fishing‘s San Gina II. We caught and measured several tope, including this beautiful female!
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Doug with a gorgeous little tope.
We welcomed onboard Trustee and Treasurer, Andrew Roberts and were delighted to add Alexis Drayson to the Social Media team.
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Our new Treasurer, Andrew Roberts.
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Welcome onboard Alexis Drayson!
Our eggcase hunts have continued with some great findings, all uploaded to the Shark Trusts Great Eggcase Hunt portal.
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Rare find of blackmouth catshark eggs in Biarritz, France.
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Lovely big blonde ray eggcase from Sandbanks beach, Poole, Dorset.
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Small eyed ray eggcase from Sandbanks.
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A bushel of small spotted catshark eggs from Sandbanks!
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A bouquet of undulate ray egg cases from Sandbanks.
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Co-Founder and Secretary Chris Jones with our dogfish Lola and Daisy, and our long time supporter (and Chris’s Mum!) Elspeth Jones, enjoying an egg case hunt.
Our two merchandise campaigns have gone down a treat, delighting our customers and helping to fund some of our work.
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Thank you for the pic Claire!
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Debbie and Charlotte looking great in their hoodies.
Founder and Chairperson Georgia French has given our first educational talks! Year 12 students at Parkstone Grammar School loved a talk about Georgia’s journey to a career with sharks, while Undergraduate and Masters students at Bournemouth University enjoyed talks on Shark Research Methods and Sharks and Setting up a Small Charity, respectively.
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The stage was set for Georgia’s talk at Parkstone Grammar School!