Riley Elliott Instagram – Another Great White shark has been tagged and is on the Great White App! It’s name is SWAJ – named by sponsors who wanted to help reverse the JAWS mentality – and what better a shark than this amazing 1.4m long, less than one year old new born. A very novel shark to tag. She is the second I have seen in this area which reflects how important it is for the species. On the same day as I tagged this shark I unfortunately also got news that Takami’s tag was torn off by a fishing longline put out off the beach using a kontiki. From the report it would appear that Takami interacted with the line, either for its bait or a fish that was hooked, and she got hooked herself and panicked, becoming entangled. She broke free but the tag got snagged on the longline which was recovered when they reeled it in. I am very grateful for the guys reporting it to me and are sending the tag back for re-deployment later. It is not their fault at all, as they were just tying to catch a feed in what is a very low bycatch manner. It has however become a more common source of juvenile GW interactions. These men were doing the right thing, watching their longline so they could have released any bycatch that may occur. It appears Takami got away ok but I am gutted that we won’t be able to follow her movements anymore. This tagging project is designed to help us learn more about their critical habitat so that we can ensure we don’t adversely interact with them and vice versa. At this stage however, as seen through Takami and in tagging SWAJ, a baby Gw, it would appear that they are vulnerable little sharks likely facing greater risks day to day from fishing interactions. Please don’t use set nets in areas with larger animal presence and if you accidentally hook a shark on a line, please cut the line at the hook and release the shark immediately while it remains in the water. If it’s a GW this is a legal obligation and you must report it to DOC. The Great White App is now available on the Google store for Android, for a small fee that supports the running of this project. It is being developed for Apple asap and it as always is available free to view at sustainableoceansociety.co.nz