Brian Wolford, 18, of Doylestown, Pa., is part of a group of volunteers who catch, tag and release sharks for the National Marine Fisheries Service. He catches brown sharks in Ocean City near the Ocean City-Longport Bridge.
Brian Wolford is a stock boy at the Giant supermarket near his home in Doylestown, Pa., but every chance he gets, he's at the north end of Ocean City fishing for sharks.
For Wolford, reeling in a predator is more than just a thrill — it's a mission.
The 18-year-old senior at Central Bucks South High School is part of a legion of volunteers that help the National Marine Fisheries Service tag and track sharks.
Numbered tags are sent to volunteer participants (in batches of five) along with self-addressed postcards for recording tagging information
(date, location, gear, size and sex of shark
). Volunteers also are sent a tagging needle and
tagging instructions to attach an ID placard near the shark's dorsal fin. When a previously tagged shark is re-caught, information similar to that obtained at tagging is requested from the recapturer.
Between 1962 and 2010, more than 221,000 sharks of 52 species have been tagged, and more than 13,000 sharks of 33 species have been recaptured, according to the NMFS, which is administered by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Fisheries Service uses the information to help learn more about sharks and their habitat, and to help protect their populations. See more information on the
National Marine Fisheries Service Shark Tagging Program.
An avid fisherman and hunter, Wolford feels it's important to respect the environment and understand the species that inhabit it.
Wolford has caught and released eight or nine sharks — each of them a brown shark — while fishing near the Ocean City-Longport Bridge. He uses chum for bait, and has caught sharks up to 5 feet long and 80 pounds.
The brown shark is also known as a sandbar shark and can grow to 6 to 8 feet long. They are common along the Mid-Atlantic coast and are rarely associated with attacks on humans. They feed on bottom-dwelling fish and invertebrates. They are different than the smooth dogfish shark, another common species in local waters known sometimes as a sand shark.
Wolford's family has a small condo at Third Street and Asbury Avenue, and he worked last summer as a beach tag inspector. He wanted to work year-round and so took his job at the Giant this year.
But in his free time, he returns to Ocean City to cast for sharks.
"It keeps the kids out of trouble," Wolford's mom, Dawn, said. "And it helps them know about the environment.
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