Blaise Barrette and Sandra Daoust with her sculpture of the Mother Shark inspired by the Haïda art style of Canada’s Pacific coast. Photo © Jeffrey Gallant (GEERG.ca)

Throughout the 2011 refit of the Skalugsuak at the Verreault Navigation Shipyard (Les Méchins, Québec), we received much assistance from our friends Blaise Barrette and Sandra Daoust of the Underwater Observation Network (OUN) who accommodated me in their Saint-­Léandre home for much of the summer.

Blaise helped at the shipyard and Sandra reconditioned all of the wood panelling on the boat. She also created a beautiful work of art that will be the soul of the Skalugsuak. Sandra sculpted an effigy of the Mother Shark, a graphic representation of a shark and its offspring inspired by the Haïda art style of Canada’s Pacific coast.

Since space on the boat is limited, the relief sculpture will ornate the table in the main cabin. During meals or while analysing telemetry data, the Mother Shark will remind us that our research must always serve the cause of sharks, of the marine environment, and of future generations. Thank you Sandra!

R/V Skalugsuak at the Verreault Navigation shipyard

The Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG) recently took possession of a new boat thanks to a generous donation by Verreault Navigation.

The Skalugsuak – Inuit name of the Greenland shark – was modernised and adapted to GEERG’s requirements at the Groupe Maritime Verreault shipyard last summer. The acquisition of the Skalugsuak will greatly reduce expenditures related to fieldwork and lodging since the crew will be able to sleep in the cabin as well as fill SCUBA tanks from an onboard compressor donated by the Eden Conservation Trust and Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada.

Thanks to this boat, GEERG scientists will undertake their most important study to date on the Greenland shark in the St. Lawrence Estuary and Saguenay Fjord. Acoustic and satellite emitters will be attached to sharks during the summer of 2012 in order to better understand their distribution as well as how environmental conditions influence their movements in the Baie-­Comeau area. Donations from other GEERG affiliates have also allowed us to equip the Skalugsuak with new scientific and navigation equipment. These generous contributions mark the beginning of a new stage in the history of our private research group, which receives no official funding.