URI Brings High Schoolers to “Shark Camp”
By: Tim Studebaker
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NARRAGANSETT BAY, R.I. (WLNE) – Most people watch "Shark Week" from their couches, remote in hand. A group of Rhode Island high schoolers is experiencing it first hand. ABC’6s Tim Studebaker was invited along on the hunt for sharks in Narragansett Bay.
Students from Central Falls High School and the Met School in Providence got the chance of a lifetime this week at URI’s first ever “Shark Camp.”
Met High School 10th Grader Tyla Morin says, “I’m really hoping to see a shark in real life. I want to get up close, you know?”
URI Biology Professor Dr. Brad Wetherbee says, “That’s the reason that we put this camp on, is to give low–income students of color a chance to go out and do these things that a lot of other students get to do all over the place.”
The week started with classroom learning, then it was time to head out on the water and fish for sharks.
Dr. Wetherbee says, “We have long lines, fishing down on the bottom for sharks; and with these trawls dragging the trawl net for sharks as well.”
This part of the camp was held on the "Cap’n Bert," a fishing trawler owned by URI.
The Captain of the “Cap’n Bert,” Steve Barber, says, “[It’s] kind of like a floating platform for a lot of the marine biology and oceanography classes. It’s kind of like their lab.”
URI students on board helped with the program. It was a chance to share their love for biology with the high schoolers.
URI Biology Senior Gyasi Alexander says, “This is an opportunity for them to decide. ‘Is this something I’m interested in? Do I really feel passionate about this?’"
Once it was time to pull up the nets, they saw and learned about all different kinds of marine life. And yes, that included four dogfish, a type of shark.
© WLNE-TV / ABC6 2018
