Guest participation
Photo-identification submissions
Guests submit identification photographs. Photo-ID data collected on GSD expeditions goes into Sharkbook.ai, the global whale shark photo-identification database.
Research at sea.
GSD expeditions connect experienced divers with the Galápagos Whale Shark Project’s ongoing work, without confusing a guest experience with a guaranteed scientific result.
Galápagos Whale Shark Project
Galápagos Whale Shark Project
Whale shark research in the Galápagos using photo-identification, satellite tagging and in-water behavioural research. Whale sharks are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. One GWSP shark scientist joins every Shark Conservation Expedition departure. GSD has supported the project since 2019 with funding for satellite tags and tracking time, contributions to Sharkbook.ai, field logistics and data analysis.
Visit the projectMethods and boundaries
What happens on an expedition.
Guest activities and scientist-led work are deliberately separated.
Guest participation
SharkCount observation protocol
Standardised observation and count protocols that guests take part in during dives (GSD refers to this as "SharkCount").
Scientist-led
Satellite tagging
Carried out by the GWSP scientists. GSD supports it with funding for tags and tracking time and with field logistics. Not a guest activity.
Scientist-led
In-water behavioural research
Scientist-led in-water behavioural research on Shark Conservation Expedition departures.
The people doing the work.
Meet the researchers
Jenny Green
Founder, Galapagos Shark Diving; field researcher and board member, GWSP
Jonathan R. Green, FRGS
Tour leader, GSD; founder and director, GWSP
Dr. Simon J. Pierce
Tour leader, GSD; founder, Marine Megafauna Foundation; collaborating scientist, GWSP
Portrait not yet supplied
Sofía M. Green Iturralde
Tour leader, GSD; researcher and data analyst, GWSP
Wildlife connected to the research.
Explore all wildlife
Rhincodon typus
Whale shark
An Endangered species and the focus of the Galápagos Whale Shark Project research supported by GSD.
Sphyrna lewini
Scalloped hammerhead
Schooling scalloped hammerheads are part of the verified wildlife context at Darwin and Wolf.
Carcharhinus galapagensis
Galápagos shark
A shark species represented in GSD first-party wildlife media and standardized expedition observations.
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