It's always Shark Week at the Oregon Coast Aquarium

Abby Luschei | Statesman Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Swimming with sharks for the first time Sally Compton takes her first dive among the sharks at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

Widespread fear of the ocean swept across the world after the release of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 summer blockbuster, “Jaws."

The film caused some to avoid the ocean, but the thriller film did not deter Jim Burke, who was 4 years old at the time.

“I was one of the people not scared after it," Burke said. "I kept wanting to go in (the ocean) more."

Curiosity and a love for being underwater would be a drive for Burke, 47, whether it was when he used a scuba tank for the first time at age 13 or the hours he would spend sitting on the bottom of the ocean watching fish swim.

From then on, he was typically always on a boat or underwater trying to find the answers to his questions: What do fish do? Where do they go?

This curiosity lead Burke to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in 1997. Before that, he spent his time researching in the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean and working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“I never thought about working at an aquarium before, but I have always liked the view,” Burke said.

He became the director of animal husbandry in 2006.

In this role, Burke takes care of the mammals, fish, birds and Invertebrates while also overseeing staff, aquarium engineering, diving and conducting off-shore research.

Burke is also part of the team at the aquarium launching a new conservation effort projected to begin in the next year.

The shark tagging program, in collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, is focused primarily on broadnose sevengill sharks, which are native to Oregon Coastal waters.

It also is one of the primary species featured in the aquarium’s Passages of the Deep exhibit, which houses five species of sharks, among other fish.

The aquarium is designed to give people as accurate a picture as possible of the ocean off the Oregon Coast.

The exhibit is all about “what is in our backyards, what migrates through our waters,” Burke said.

Sharks beneath the surface

In 2017, multiple shark sightings were reported off the Oregon Coast in places including Pacific City and Cannon Beach.

One paddle boarder even reported seeing a shark’s mouth and feeling it bump her board.

A surfer from Portland, Joseph Tanner, was attacked by a shark at Indian Beach in 2016. Tanner, then 29, suffered severe injuries to his upper thigh and lower leg.

October’s incident was one of 28 shark attacks in Oregon since 1974, according to the Shark Research Institute.

Although shark sightings are uncommon off the Oregon coast, when they do occur, signs are posted near the relevant beaches, said Chris Havel, a spokesman for Oregon State Parks.

Several species of shark live off the Oregon coast, including sevengill, leopard and spiny dogfish sharks – which can be found at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Some limitations make it impossible for the aquarium to house certain species that live in Oregon waters like the great white shark.

Passages of the Deep features three underwater tunnels:

Orford Reef: replicates a dive site off the coast full of rocky canyons, kelp and rockfish

Halibut Flats: features fish including halibut, deeper water rockfish and sturgeon

Open Sea: houses the sharks and bigger fish

The Open Water tunnel is designed so that there is nothing but the abyss as far as the eye can see – no land, no rocks, no reefs, just big fish.

“The idea is that you start close to shore and with each tunnel you go further and further away from the shore until you are in the middle of nowhere as far as the ocean goes,” Doug Batson, assistant dive and boating safety officer at the aquarium, said.

Replicating the ocean is not the aquarium's only mission, the staff is also continuously trying to learn more about it and the species native to Oregon waters.

It's like "Shark Week," but in Oregon

Many unanswered questions live below the ocean's surface, which is why Burke and his staff dedicate time weekly for off-shore research work.

Over the years, the aquarium staff has collaborated with organizations including the Seattle Aquarium and other dive teams assisting with research and scientific instrumentation.

The aquariam staff, for example, serves as the dive team for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for underwater studies with the Oregon Marine Reserves.

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Jenna Walker, the dive safety officer at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, is part of that dive team.

“We are basically studying the fish, the algae, the Invertebrate life and populations, and we are trying to get the baseline data as well as long-term data about those separate populations," Walker said.

Data is used to monitor the state of the reserves and comparison areas to determine whether they are functioning properly.

One of the aquarium’s recent endeavors – which is just getting underway – will focus on tagging and tracking broadnose sevengill sharks.

The Oregon Coast Aquarium has the conservation status for sevengill sharks listed as "unknown." Sevengills are often caught as bycatch off the Oregon Coast, and because of lack of data about their population, it is undetermined if they are threatened.

With the new program, Burke said they hope to learn about sevengill seasonal concentration, migration and breeding patterns.

They will start by capturing a shark to weigh it, take lengths, determine the sex and attach a tag. They will also take a small fin clip – a skin sample – for genetic testing.

Phase one of the program is determining where the sharks go.

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“Our assumption is they come up here to breed and then they go down to California and Mexico," Burke said. "On that tag will be our data and we will be able to answer a few questions.”

Using the fin clip, they will genetically analyze the sharks to see if any are related to each other and how. This will help them estimate population size and if there are distinct breeding populations or intermingling between species.

Burke said this program is projected to begin in September but it could take as long as April 2019 to get it off the ground.

The importance of exposure

As the dive safety officer at the aquarium, Walker works with people more than she does with animals. She only works with animals for safety reasons, like shark training.

Walker’s main priority in overseeeing the dive team is to make sure divers are safe whether they are off-shore, doing contract work with state organizations or running the Guest Diver Program.

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The Guest Diver Program is one of the ways that the aquarium allows the public to get up close and personal with the fish – including the sharks.

Walker said that most people think that getting in the water with sharks is going to be a thrilling experience, but she finds it ends up being more a form of meditation.

Diving with sharks at the Oregon Coast Aquarium Learn how you can dive with sharks at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

“When you get in there, and you can just sit and stay calm, you are underwater and just watching the sharks and they are moving slowly and they are so graceful,” she said. “It is really almost like its own version of therapy."

If physically getting in the water with sharks it too big of a dive, the Oregon Coast Aquarium offers other ways to learn about them.

Most Saturdays at noon from Memorial Day to Labor day a diver swims up to the panel window that looks into the Open Sea exhibit and gives a 10-15 minute presentation to the public.

These presentations focus on educating people about sharks, what it is like to dive into their territory and the issues that face them.

Children can sit by the glass and ask the diver questions. This allows visitors to interact with a person who is physically in an exhibit with sharks and see that it is not as scary as it seems, Walker said.

“I think when people get to experience that upfront it can really take that fear away," she said.

"People care about what they understand"

After the release of "Jaws," sharks became a popular villain in thriller movies – and inevitably, that carried over to reality.

Although it was released more than four decades ago, shark thrillers seem to be just as popular, with films including "The Shallows," "47 Meters Down" and "Deep Blue Sea 2."

These Hollywood depictions have branded sharks with the reputation of being a killer. And while shark attacks do happen, many are non-fatal and are typically cases of misidentification.

Taking the time to understand them is key to eradicating those misconceptions at a time when shark populations are declining globally.

“I think that you really have to fall in love with something before you want to be an ambassador for it or be inspired to help with conservation of any of those species," Walker said.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, 11 shark species are listed as critically endangered, 15 species, including the great hammerhead, are endangered and 48 are listed as vulnerable, including the great white.

Dangers to sharks include the shark fin trade, which affects more than 73 million sharks per year, overfishing, accidental bycatch in commercial fishing nets and the degradation of habitats.

These issues and more are being combated by organizations including Oceana, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and aquariums like the Oregon Coast Aquarium that are dedicated to education, conservation and preservation of the ocean and the species that live in it.

“People care about what they understand, and a lot of people do not understand sharks," Burke said. "I encourage people to make an attempt to understand them.”

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Abby Luschei is the entertainment reporter for the Statesman Journal; she can be reached at aluschei@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6747. Follow her on Twitter @abbyluschei or facebook.com/luscheiabby.