A survey study led by University of California/Davis researcher Taylor Chappie has found far fewer white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, then originally estimated. This shark, along with the killer whale, is the primary apex predator found along much of the U.S. West Coast, helping to control the number of sea lions and seals. Since the 1990’s white sharks have enjoyed protection from take along the California coast under legislation that was drafted by PCFFA and carried by then California Assemblyman Dan Hauser (D-Arcata). California was the first government in the world to fully protect white shark.

The research, published in the Biology Letters, found far fewer great white sharks plying California's coastal waters than biologists had expected, according to the first-ever census of the predators' population in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Scientists now believe only 219 full-grown and near-adults hang out in the waters between Bodega Bay and Monterey each fall. For more, see the 9 March San Francisco Chronicle at: sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/09/MNBB1I6GV4.DTL, and the 10 March edition of Science NOW at: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/03/scienceshot-shark-survey-yields.html?etoc>news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/03/scienceshot-shark-survey-yields.html?etoc