The White Shark Project
WHITE SHARK TAGGING PROGRAM
WHERE CONSERVATION MEETS REMEMBRANCE
Presented by Knot Lucky. Brought to you by Caught in the Web, Star brite, and Gray FishTag Research.
There are easier ways to remember someone. We chose great white sharks. Each winter, miles off the coast of Georgia, the Knot Lucky crew heads into the Atlantic in search of one of the most powerful and misunderstood animals on the planet, the great white shark. But we are not out there hunting trophies. We are carrying names. The Knot Lucky White Shark Tagging Program brings together marine conservation, scientific research, veterans, and remembrance in a mission unlike anything else we do. When a great white is successfully tagged through this program, that shark becomes more than part of a research project. It becomes a living memorial. We name these sharks in honor of American service members who were killed in action and veterans whose lives and stories deserve to continue being told. Their names go back into the ocean. Their stories keep moving.
THE MISSION?
REMEMBER THE FALLEN. STUDY THE SHARKS. PROTECT THE OCEAN.
Knot Lucky works alongside Gray FishTag Research, the world’s largest cooperative fish tagging and research program, to contribute meaningful information to marine science. Gray FishTag Research works with fishermen, charter captains, anglers, sponsors, and researchers around the world to collect information that can help scientists better understand migration patterns, fish stocks, growth rates, habitat depths, and behavior. Their mission is to bridge the gap between professional fishermen and the scientific community while making collected research data available at no cost. Our great white program puts that mission into action off the coast of Georgia.
Satellite tagging technology gives researchers a window into a world most people will never see. Where do these animals go? How deep do they travel? What water temperatures do they encounter? How do their movements change throughout the year? Where do they spend their winters? Where do they go when they leave Georgia? Every successful deployment adds another piece to that puzzle. But for Knot Lucky, every deployment carries something else. A name.
WHY WE NAME THEM?
A name can disappear from the news. A photograph can eventually get packed away. Years pass. People move on. Stories stop being told. We refuse to let that happen. The men and women honored through this program were sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, teammates, friends, and warriors. Some died serving their country. Others came home carrying battles the rest of the world could not see. We refuse to reduce their lives to a statistic, a casualty number, or a name engraved somewhere people eventually walk past. We tell their stories. Then we attach those stories to one of the most extraordinary animals on Earth.
A great white shark can travel enormous distances through the Atlantic. We know because we have watched it happen. The first great white in this mission was named Christopher Shane Wright, in honor of a fallen Army Ranger killed in Afghanistan. After being tagged off Savannah, Chris traveled 752 straight line nautical miles before the satellite tag released off Massachusetts 180 days later. Another great white, named Stevon Booker after the legendary Army Ranger Staff Sergeant Stevon Booker, traveled 1,352 straight line nautical miles, from Georgia all the way to waters off Quebec, Canada. Thousands of miles. Across state lines. Across international borders. Through an ocean with no monuments and no grave markers. Carrying their names the entire way. That is our kind of memorial.
FROM THE BATTLEFIELD TO THE ATLANTIC
Knot Lucky was built around getting veterans back into the world, away from isolation, away from four walls, back around people who understand them, back into nature, and back on the water. Most of our work begins with a fishing rod in a veteran’s hands.
Who were they? Who did they love? How did they serve? What did they sacrifice? What made them laugh? Who is still telling their story? Why should America remember their name? Our job is to make sure both stories keep being told.
THEY MAY BE GONE. THEIR NAMES AREN’T.
Somewhere beyond the Georgia coastline, beneath the surface of the Atlantic, a great white shark may be carrying the name of an American hero. That shark has no idea what that name means. We do. The family does. Their brothers and sisters in arms do. And now, hopefully, you do too.
That is why we will keep going back. For the veterans standing on our deck. For the families standing behind those names. For the scientists trying to understand these incredible animals. For the ocean that has given so many of us somewhere to heal. And for the men and women whose stories deserve to travel farther than any of us ever could.
KNOT LUCKY WHITE SHARK TAGGING PROGRAM
REMEMBER THE FALLEN. PROTECT THE LIVING. FOLLOW THE SCIENCE. KEEP THEIR STORIES MOVING.
The White Shark Tagging Program takes that mission somewhere completely different. Veterans are not simply passengers on a fishing trip. They become part of the mission. Catch. Research. Conservation. Brotherhood. Remembrance.
There is something difficult to explain about standing on the deck of a boat and looking over the gunwale at a great white shark. These animals are the apex predators of the Atlantic. Yet when you see an adult great white up close, you see something else. Scars. Wounds. Damage. Evidence of everything that animal has survived. And somehow, it is still swimming. A lot of veterans understand that. You can be scarred and still have a purpose. You can be wounded and still keep moving. Maybe that is why these animals mean so much to us.
THE SCIENCE
This program is not ceremonial tagging. The science matters. Gray FishTag Research conducts research efforts across fish species worldwide and is at the forefront of satellite tagging studies. Satellite tags can provide researchers with valuable information about the lives of these animals after they disappear beneath the surface. Depending on the technology being deployed, researchers can gather information related to movement, migration, depth, temperature, and habitat use.
One of our earliest sharks demonstrated exactly why this research matters. The shark named Christopher Shane Wright spent 180 days at large after being tagged off Savannah. Data from that deployment documented changes in depth and temperature during its journey north. At points off New Jersey and Nantucket, the shark made significantly deeper dives along the continental shelf. Another shark from our program, Stevon Booker, traveled more than 1,300 straight line nautical miles from Georgia to Canada. We could never follow these animals with a boat. Technology allows the shark to tell the story for us. The shark swims away. The tag goes to work. The research continues.
THE SHARKS
Every shark in this program represents two stories. The story of the animal and the story of the person whose name it carries. This is where you can meet them both. Each shark’s profile tells the story of the mission, the research, the journey, and most importantly, the American whose name went into the Atlantic with it. Because behind every shark is a person. A family. A military unit. Friends. Memories. A life that mattered. We want you to know more than how they died. We want you to know how they lived.
THE PARTNERS WHO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE
CAUGHT IN THE WEB: Proud supporter of the Knot Lucky White Shark Tagging Program and our mission to carry these stories farther than we ever could alone. Helping us put more eyes on the mission means putting more eyes on the veterans, the families, the science, and the names we refuse to let disappear.
STAR BRITE: Star brite believed in this mission from the beginning. When this idea was little more than an Army Ranger, a boat, an ocean, and a crazy idea to put the names of fallen Americans on great white sharks, Star brite stepped forward and helped make it real. Their support helped put satellite tagging technology in our hands and great whites carrying the names of American heroes into the Atlantic. They did not simply sponsor a program. They helped launch a legacy.
GRAY FISHTAG RESEARCH: Gray FishTag Research provides the scientific foundation behind the program. As the world’s largest cooperative fish tagging and research program, Gray FishTag Research works to bridge the gap between professional fishermen and the scientific community. Their expertise, tagging technology, research infrastructure, and commitment to conservation allow the sharks we encounter off Georgia to contribute to a much larger understanding of our oceans. We catch them. We tag them. We release them. The science follows them.
EVERY TAG HAS TWO STORIES
One belongs to the shark. Where does it travel? Where does it feed? How deep does it go? Where does it spend its winter? Where does it go next? The other belongs to the person whose name it carries.
WHITE SHARK TAGGING PROGRAM
WHERE CONSERVATION MEETS REMEMBRANCE
Presented by Knot Lucky. Brought to you by Caught in the Web, Star brite, and Gray FishTag Research.
There are easier ways to remember someone. We chose great white sharks. Each winter, miles off the coast of Georgia, the Knot Lucky crew heads into the Atlantic in search of one of the most powerful and misunderstood animals on the planet, the great white shark. But we are not out there hunting trophies. We are carrying names. The Knot Lucky White Shark Tagging Program brings together marine conservation, scientific research, veterans, and remembrance in a mission unlike anything else we do. When a great white is successfully tagged through this program, that shark becomes more than part of a research project. It becomes a living memorial. We name these sharks in honor of American service members who were killed in action and veterans whose lives and stories deserve to continue being told. Their names go back into the ocean. Their stories keep moving.
THE MISSION?
REMEMBER THE FALLEN. STUDY THE SHARKS. PROTECT THE OCEAN.
Knot Lucky works alongside Gray FishTag Research, the world’s largest cooperative fish tagging and research program, to contribute meaningful information to marine science. Gray FishTag Research works with fishermen, charter captains, anglers, sponsors, and researchers around the world to collect information that can help scientists better understand migration patterns, fish stocks, growth rates, habitat depths, and behavior. Their mission is to bridge the gap between professional fishermen and the scientific community while making collected research data available at no cost. Our great white program puts that mission into action off the coast of Georgia.
Satellite tagging technology gives researchers a window into a world most people will never see. Where do these animals go? How deep do they travel? What water temperatures do they encounter? How do their movements change throughout the year? Where do they spend their winters? Where do they go when they leave Georgia? Every successful deployment adds another piece to that puzzle. But for Knot Lucky, every deployment carries something else. A name.
WHY WE NAME THEM?
A name can disappear from the news. A photograph can eventually get packed away. Years pass. People move on. Stories stop being told. We refuse to let that happen. The men and women honored through this program were sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, teammates, friends, and warriors. Some died serving their country. Others came home carrying battles the rest of the world could not see. We refuse to reduce their lives to a statistic, a casualty number, or a name engraved somewhere people eventually walk past. We tell their stories. Then we attach those stories to one of the most extraordinary animals on Earth.
A great white shark can travel enormous distances through the Atlantic. We know because we have watched it happen. The first great white in this mission was named Christopher Shane Wright, in honor of a fallen Army Ranger killed in Afghanistan. After being tagged off Savannah, Chris traveled 752 straight line nautical miles before the satellite tag released off Massachusetts 180 days later. Another great white, named Stevon Booker after the legendary Army Ranger Staff Sergeant Stevon Booker, traveled 1,352 straight line nautical miles, from Georgia all the way to waters off Quebec, Canada. Thousands of miles. Across state lines. Across international borders. Through an ocean with no monuments and no grave markers. Carrying their names the entire way. That is our kind of memorial.
FROM THE BATTLEFIELD TO THE ATLANTIC
Knot Lucky was built around getting veterans back into the world, away from isolation, away from four walls, back around people who understand them, back into nature, and back on the water. Most of our work begins with a fishing rod in a veteran’s hands.
Who were they? Who did they love? How did they serve? What did they sacrifice? What made them laugh? Who is still telling their story? Why should America remember their name? Our job is to make sure both stories keep being told.
THEY MAY BE GONE. THEIR NAMES AREN’T.
Somewhere beyond the Georgia coastline, beneath the surface of the Atlantic, a great white shark may be carrying the name of an American hero. That shark has no idea what that name means. We do. The family does. Their brothers and sisters in arms do. And now, hopefully, you do too.
That is why we will keep going back. For the veterans standing on our deck. For the families standing behind those names. For the scientists trying to understand these incredible animals. For the ocean that has given so many of us somewhere to heal. And for the men and women whose stories deserve to travel farther than any of us ever could.
KNOT LUCKY WHITE SHARK TAGGING PROGRAM
REMEMBER THE FALLEN. PROTECT THE LIVING. FOLLOW THE SCIENCE. KEEP THEIR STORIES MOVING.
The White Shark Tagging Program takes that mission somewhere completely different. Veterans are not simply passengers on a fishing trip. They become part of the mission. Catch. Research. Conservation. Brotherhood. Remembrance.
There is something difficult to explain about standing on the deck of a boat and looking over the gunwale at a great white shark. These animals are the apex predators of the Atlantic. Yet when you see an adult great white up close, you see something else. Scars. Wounds. Damage. Evidence of everything that animal has survived. And somehow, it is still swimming. A lot of veterans understand that. You can be scarred and still have a purpose. You can be wounded and still keep moving. Maybe that is why these animals mean so much to us.
THE SCIENCE
This program is not ceremonial tagging. The science matters. Gray FishTag Research conducts research efforts across fish species worldwide and is at the forefront of satellite tagging studies. Satellite tags can provide researchers with valuable information about the lives of these animals after they disappear beneath the surface. Depending on the technology being deployed, researchers can gather information related to movement, migration, depth, temperature, and habitat use.
One of our earliest sharks demonstrated exactly why this research matters. The shark named Christopher Shane Wright spent 180 days at large after being tagged off Savannah. Data from that deployment documented changes in depth and temperature during its journey north. At points off New Jersey and Nantucket, the shark made significantly deeper dives along the continental shelf. Another shark from our program, Stevon Booker, traveled more than 1,300 straight line nautical miles from Georgia to Canada. We could never follow these animals with a boat. Technology allows the shark to tell the story for us. The shark swims away. The tag goes to work. The research continues.
THE SHARKS
Every shark in this program represents two stories. The story of the animal and the story of the person whose name it carries. This is where you can meet them both. Each shark’s profile tells the story of the mission, the research, the journey, and most importantly, the American whose name went into the Atlantic with it. Because behind every shark is a person. A family. A military unit. Friends. Memories. A life that mattered. We want you to know more than how they died. We want you to know how they lived.
THE PARTNERS WHO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE
CAUGHT IN THE WEB: Proud supporter of the Knot Lucky White Shark Tagging Program and our mission to carry these stories farther than we ever could alone. Helping us put more eyes on the mission means putting more eyes on the veterans, the families, the science, and the names we refuse to let disappear.
STAR BRITE: Star brite believed in this mission from the beginning. When this idea was little more than an Army Ranger, a boat, an ocean, and a crazy idea to put the names of fallen Americans on great white sharks, Star brite stepped forward and helped make it real. Their support helped put satellite tagging technology in our hands and great whites carrying the names of American heroes into the Atlantic. They did not simply sponsor a program. They helped launch a legacy.
GRAY FISHTAG RESEARCH: Gray FishTag Research provides the scientific foundation behind the program. As the world’s largest cooperative fish tagging and research program, Gray FishTag Research works to bridge the gap between professional fishermen and the scientific community. Their expertise, tagging technology, research infrastructure, and commitment to conservation allow the sharks we encounter off Georgia to contribute to a much larger understanding of our oceans. We catch them. We tag them. We release them. The science follows them.
EVERY TAG HAS TWO STORIES
One belongs to the shark. Where does it travel? Where does it feed? How deep does it go? Where does it spend its winter? Where does it go next? The other belongs to the person whose name it carries.
