Super Shark Highway

Follow the elite shark research teams infiltrating both of Australia's busiest shark migration routes to unlock the mysteries of their feeding behavior and hotspots. The search for food is an important driver for nearly all shark movement, but what foods are attracting sharks to those areas? How often do they eat, and how long do the sharks stay? The teams are on a mission to find out.

Sharks are the life force of our oceans. They must reproduce to maintain a balanced marine ecosystem. Little is known about where sharks go to mate and pup, so the two research teams are keen to learn more. The northern research team heads to K'gari, Queensland, located 80 kilometers south of the world-famous Great Barrier Reef. The team wants to locate mating and birthing spots to protect these areas for the sustainability of large shark populations. Dr. Bonnie Holmes and Dr. Johan Gustafson run five fishing rods along one kilometer of sand, in the hopes of catching the most elusive shark of all: a pregnant female. If they can find and tag her with satellite technology, she could lead them to her pupping grounds. Catching and tagging sharks from the shallows is a difficult assignment, so they must work carefully and quickly to succeed.

By day and or night, sharks rule our oceans. However, what exactly do they do when the sun goes down? Our two research teams are on a mission to uncover the mysteries of shark behavior after dark. In K’gari, Dr. Bonnie Holmes and Dr. Johan Gustafson aim to attach an activity tag on a bull shark from the shallows at night, one off fishing lines from the beach and another from the reef flats in their small inflatable boat. At Dangerous Reef, Dr. Lauren Meyer and professor Charlie Huveneers are attempting a world-first: to deploy an activity tag on a white shark in South Australia so they can monitor its movements and behavior after dark.

Even the most solitary sharks need others to survive. But how they hunt, protect each other and form social hierarchies is still mostly unknown to science. Great white sharks do not school or socialize the way other species, like sand tiger or grey reef sharks, do. Professor Charlie Huveneers and Dr. Lauren Meyer head to the southern Neptune Islands with new tagging technology to see if they can unlock a different story about these rogue sharks. Dr. Johan Gustafson, Dr. Bonnie Holmes and Colin Thrupp head to Orpheus Island in Queensland, a nursery ground for baby blacktip reef sharks, to uncover how the young learn social and survival skills.

The teams leave their usual research grounds to see just how far the southern and tropical shark highways extend. Discoveries of new shark hot spots could lead scientists to uncharted sections of migration highways and shark behaviors. Dr. Johan Gustafson and underwater cameraman Colin Thrupp visit Weipa, just west of the northern tip of Queensland. The team endeavors to collect biopsies from the local juvenile and adult bull sharks to see if there is a genetic connection to bull sharks further south. At Greenly Island in South Australia, Dr. Lauren Meyer and Dr. Tom Clarke search for white sharks to prove the area serves like a truck stop in the migration. Local fishermen have reported sightings here, but are they the same sharks the team has already tagged in the Neptune Islands?

Sharks have ruled our oceans for over 400 million years. In comparison, humans are relatively new visitors. How do we keep both parties safe when our worlds collide? Scientists are keen to find some solutions. Dr. Lauren Meyer and professor Charlie Huveneers visit Port Noarlunga, South Australia, a popular snorkeling and swimming spot. It is also the site of a recent white shark attack, where the woman is lucky to be alive. For the northern research team, their 12-month mission ends at Twin Waters. Bull sharks and people live in and around canals that connect to the Maroochy River and tropical shark highway, so it’s a hot spot for shark and human interactions. To keep everyone safe, Dr. Johan Gustafson and Dr. Bonnie Holmes need to learn how the bull sharks use the river system.