The Orange County Commission voted to fund the $3.7 million White Shark Population Monitoring and Beach Safety Program this week.
Assembly Bill 2191, if passed, would provide funding for additional Great White population studies, educational outreach and research efforts. The bill was authored by Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) along with Long Beach State University’s Shark Lab.
Additional funding would go toward beach safety programs and other monitoring activities.
The goal of the bill would be to gain more understanding of California’s white shark population through satellite tagging and drone monitoring. The number of sharks has increased in recent years, requiring greater knowledge of how they may come into contact with surfers and others using the state’s beaches.
“For the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve seen an increase in the number of white sharks,” Shark Lab director Chris Lowe said in a release. “We believe this comeback is connected to environmental protections that were established several decades ago. The good news is that they are coming back. The tricky part is that we lack the tools to monitor them.”
