Decades of field observation, data collection, shark identification, research collaboration, education and applied conservation
Ocean Ramsey’s work with sharks extends far beyond public education and conservation communication. Her work has included long-term field observation, systematic data collection, non-invasive photographic identification, behavioral documentation, research collaboration, graduate-research support, field assistance, shark-deterrent testing, professional training, and peer-reviewed publication.
Ocean’s primary area of focus is conservation, however her scientific approach and communication style stem from the fields of marine science and ethology—the study of animal behavior—with particular emphasis on shark behavior, individual variation, and shark-human interactions in natural environments.
Her approach is field-centered and collaborative.
Ocean does not view long-term field experience and conventional academic science as competing approaches. They are complementary.
Field observation can identify patterns and generate questions. Long-term monitoring creates valuable datasets. Formal research methods allow hypotheses to be tested. Collaboration connects those resources with researchers. Public education translates knowledge into conservation action.
10 selected examples below that verifiably show some of Ocean Ramsey’s contributions to that process.
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1. Peer-Reviewed Research
Effectiveness Against White Sharks of the Rpela Personal Shark Deterrent Device Designed for Surfers
Blount, C., Pygas, D., Lincoln Smith, M.P., McPhee, D.P., Bignell, C., & Ramsey, O. (2021)
Journal of Marine Science and Technology, 29(4)
DOI: 10.51400/2709-6998.1594
Ocean Ramsey’s role: Co-author
Ocean is a named co-author of this peer-reviewed research evaluating the effectiveness of a personal electric shark-deterrent device against white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in Western Australia.
The research used controlled trials to compare shark responses when the deterrent device was active versus inactive, examining measures including interactions, bites, passes, and proximity.
The research found that the device significantly reduced the probability of interactions and bites while importantly recognizing that no deterrent can eliminate shark-bite risk entirely.
Why it matters
Testing nonlethal shark-bite mitigation technology can contribute to protecting human safety without relying upon the killing of sharks.
This represents Ocean’s direct participation as an author in formal, peer-reviewed applied shark research.
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2. Major Data Contribution: Shark Ecotourism & Conservation
The Role of Shark Ecotourism in Conservation Behaviour: Evidence from Hawaii
Sutcliffe, S.R. & Barnes, M.L. (2018)
Marine Policy, 97, 27–33
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2018.08.022
Ocean Ramsey’s role: Major field-data and research-program contributor through One Ocean
This peer-reviewed study examined an important conservation question:
Can responsible educational shark ecotourism actually change people’s understanding of sharks, attitudes toward them, and intentions to participate in shark conservation?
The research included 547 participants in a cage-free shark-diving ecotourism program in Hawaiʻi and 488 members of the general public.
Ocean collected more than 500 data points associated with this research through the One Ocean program.
The study found positive relationships between participation in shark ecotourism and participants’ knowledge, attitudes toward sharks, and conservation intentions.
Why it matters
This research provides scientific support for an important principle underlying Ocean’s conservation work:
Responsible experiences with sharks can transform fear into understanding and understanding into conservation action.
Shark ecotourism can also create economic value around living sharks, providing communities with sustainable incentives for their continued protection.
Ocean was not an author of this paper. Her contribution was primarily on the field-data and research-program side of the scientific process.
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3. Graduate Research Data Contribution
Galapagos Sharks & Environmental Conditions in Hawaiʻi
Research collaboration involving:
Shari Schlueter, M.Sc.
Dr. Jodie L. Rummer
Dr. Andrew Chin
James Cook University / Physioshark
Ocean Ramsey’s role: Long-term field-data contributor and research collaborator
Ocean shared data collected through the One Ocean Research Hawaiʻi Shark Survey with Master’s student Shari Schlueter and her supervisors, Dr. Jodie L. Rummer and Dr. Andrew Chin.
Ocean also exchanged extensive correspondence with the researchers to clarify the field methods, methodology, collection procedures, variables, and context necessary to appropriately understand and analyze the dataset.
The graduate research examined relationships between environmental conditions and shark occurrence in Hawaiʻi, including Galapagos sharks.
Ocean subsequently attended the presentation of the completed Master’s research.
This collaboration illustrates an important benefit of maintaining long-term observational datasets:
Researchers cannot be present in every ecosystem every day. Consistently collected field observations can preserve information across years, seasons, individuals, and changing environmental conditions that can later be investigated through formal academic analysis.
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4. More Than a Decade of Non-Invasive Shark Identification
One Ocean Sharks — Long-Term Shark ID Database
Founded and led by Ocean Ramsey with One Ocean Research marine biologists, naturalists, research assistants, and interns
For more than a decade, Ocean and the One Ocean Research team have worked to identify, document, and repeatedly observe individual sharks encountered in Hawaiian waters.
Instead of treating every shark sighting as an anonymous encounter, the One Ocean Shark ID program uses photography, video, natural markings, scars, coloration, physical characteristics, and other distinguishing features to recognize individual animals.
Records can include information such as:
* Species
* Sex
* Estimated length
* Identifying characteristics
* Sighting history
* Seasonal occurrence
* Location
* Associated individuals
* Repeated behavioral observations
More than 300 individual sharks have been cataloged through the program across multiple species.
The database includes dedicated identification catalogs for Galapagos sharks, sandbar sharks, tiger sharks, and other species.
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Why Individual Identification Matters
Recognizing the same animal repeatedly creates opportunities that anonymous sightings cannot.
Long-term records allow questions such as:
Does this individual repeatedly return to the same location?
When during the year does it appear?
Does its behavior remain consistent across encounters?
Does it repeatedly associate with particular individuals?
How do sex, species, season, environmental conditions, and depth correlate with sightings?
How does the behavior of one recognizable shark differ from another?
Photographic identification can therefore contribute to investigations of site fidelity, seasonal occurrence, population observations, individual behavioral consistency, and social dynamics without requiring every animal to be captured or physically tagged.
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@OneOceanSharks — Making Identification Public
An unusual aspect of the One Ocean Shark ID program is that much of the identification work has been made publicly accessible through @OneOceanSharks.
Specific identification hashtags, individual shark names, photographs and distinguishing characteristics allow recognizable animals to be referenced across subsequent observations.
This creates a bridge between:
Field Observation → Individual Identification → Longitudinal Records → Research → Public Education
Members of the public can also contribute potentially useful sightings and photographs for identification.
In this context, social media is not the purpose of the research.
It is one of the tools used to organize, share, and expand participation in it.
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5. Long-Term Population & Seasonal Observations
One Ocean Research has maintained ongoing observations examining shark occurrence and movement according to factors including:
Species • Sex • Individual ID • Season • Depth • Environmental conditions
The program has focused particularly on recurring observations of Galapagos sharks, sandbar sharks, tiger sharks, and other species encountered around Hawaiʻi.
One Ocean researchers have also used deep-water camera systems to investigate shark occurrence at depths beyond ordinary diver observation.
Consistent observations over many years create a longitudinal resource fundamentally different from a short-duration study.
The value of a long-term dataset is not simply the number of observations. It is the ability to recognize patterns across time.
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6. Whale Shark Occurrence & Migration in Hawaiʻi
One Ocean Research has also supported research-assistant work examining the occurrence, migration, and presence of whale sharks throughout the Hawaiian archipelago.
These projects illustrate another component of the One Ocean model: giving developing marine biologists and research assistants opportunities to turn sustained field observations into focused scientific questions, analyses, and research products.
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7. Marine Debris & Human Impacts
Marine biologists, interns, and research assistants working through One Ocean Research have also investigated subjects including marine-debris occurrence and human impacts affecting sharks and their environment.
The broader research program has examined relationships between sharks, environmental conditions, human activity, population observations, and behavioral patterns.
These projects complement One Ocean’s continuing work in shark identification and long-term ecological observation.
A PDF of season data collection and examination of fishing gear observed on sharks is available from biologist Kaitlyn Ethers.
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8. Great White Shark Field Research
Assisting Dr. Mauricio Hoyos — Guadalupe Island, Mexico
Earlier in her career, Ocean worked in the field assisting great white shark researcher Dr. Mauricio Hoyos at Guadalupe Island, Mexico.
Independent contemporaneous reporting documents Ocean participating directly in Hoyos’s research operations.
The article describes Hoyos collecting tissue samples from great white sharks to investigate feeding habits and genetic origins and deploying tracking technologies to scientifically document their behavior.
Ocean assisted with field operations, The resulting footage was used to identify individual great white sharks.
The publication explicitly identifies the pair in its accompanying photographs as “Researcher Hoyos and his assistant Ocean Ramsey.”
This represents direct, hands-on participation in the practical fieldwork required to generate scientific information about great white sharks.
Ocean does not claim authorship of Dr. Hoyos’s research. Her role was field research assistance and shark-identification documentation.
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9. Contributing Experience to University Research
Environmental & Science Communication — University of British Columbia
Ocean’s contribution to academic research has also occurred from another direction: her experience communicating shark science and conservation to a large public audience has itself become relevant to researchers studying environmental communication.
Ocean participated in an academic research interview conducted by Viola Jasmine Provost, M.Sc., Ph.D. Candidate with the Business, Sustainability and Technology Lab at the University of British Columbia.
The research concerns environmental and science communication through social media, including how environmental information reaches and potentially influences public audiences.
Ocean’s role: Academic research interview participant and practitioner contributor
This project is distinct from Ocean’s shark field research but directly relevant to another major component of her work: translating marine science and conservation information into communication that the general public can understand and engage with.
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10. Training Marine Biologists, Naturalists & Future Researchers
Ocean’s contribution is not limited to the information she personally collects.
Over the years, marine biologists, naturalists, research assistants, interns, and dive professionals have participated in One Ocean’s field programs.
Under Ocean’s oversight and alongside other experienced marine biologists, developing professionals have had opportunities to participate in:
Non-invasive shark identification
Systematic field observation
Survey data collection
Behavioral video documentation
Population observations
Environmental-data collection
Shark-human interaction observations
Responsible wildlife practices
Public science communication
Some have subsequently developed focused research concerning whale sharks, marine debris, seasonal shark occurrence, behavioral observations, and other subjects.
Good field programs should do more than collect data. They should develop people capable of continuing and improving the work.
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Data Sharing & Scientific Collaboration
One Ocean’s long-term datasets have been shared with outside researchers when appropriate research questions and collaborations arise.
This is an important distinction in understanding how Ocean contributes to science.
Science does not consist solely of the person whose name appears first on a paper.
Scientific research depends upon many different contributions:
Research design
Field observation
Data collection
Long-term monitoring
Sample collection
Individual identification
Video documentation
Data management
Data sharing
Statistical analysis
Field logistics
Writing
Peer review
Mentorship
Public communication
Ocean’s work has concentrated particularly on long-term field observation, data collection, non-invasive identification, shark behavior, shark-human interactions, research collaboration, professional education, and conservation communication.
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Field Experience and Academic Science Are Complementary
Long-term field experience does not replace rigorous scientific methods or peer review.
And an academic credential does not, by itself, replace thousands of hours observing wild animals in their natural environment.
We need both.
Telemetry can tell us where a shark travels.
Genetics can tell us about populations and relationships.
Physiology can help explain how sharks function.
Controlled experiments can test specific hypotheses.
Statistical analysis can determine whether apparent patterns withstand scrutiny.
And long-term naturalistic observation can reveal individual differences, recurring behaviors, unexpected interactions, seasonal patterns, and questions worthy of further investigation.
Ocean’s particular focus has been the latter: spending extensive time observing sharks in their natural environment, documenting what she observes, sharing useful data with researchers, and translating what is learned into practical education about shark behavior, safety, coexistence, and conservation.
Observe. Document. Collaborate. Educate. Conserve.
Ocean Ramsey’s contribution to shark science should not be evaluated solely by counting publications carrying her name.
Her documented work encompasses:
Peer-reviewed co-authorship
Major field-data collection supporting published research
Long-term datasets shared with university researchers
Graduate-research collaboration
Direct field assistance to established shark scientists
10+ years of non-invasive individual shark identification
300+ individually cataloged sharks
Long-term population and seasonal observations
Behavioral documentation
Nonlethal shark-deterrent research
Training and mentorship of marine biologists and research assistants
Public science and conservation communication
Her life’s work has focused on something complementary:
Spend time with the animals. Observe carefully. Document consistently. Share useful information. Collaborate with scientists. Educate the public. Apply what is learned to safer human-shark coexistence and meaningful conservation.
