Into Shark Waters

Southern Bahamas BRUVs Expedition

Logo with a black wave icon on a black background, and the text 'BENEATH THE WAVES' in bold white uppercase letters

Mission Snapshot

  • Location: Southern Bahamas

  • Duration: 6 weeks

  • Distance sailed: 330 nautical miles

  • Survey Effort: 72 BRUV deployments; 26 sites

  • Focus Species: Predatory sharks

  • Output: 100 hrs footage, podcast episode, data analysis & scientific publication (in progress)

In March 2025, Ocean Roamer partnered with Beneath The Waves to conduct the first comprehensive survey of shark populations in the remote southern Bahamas.

Over six weeks, we sailed between Great Inagua, Crooked Island and Ragged Island, deploying Baited Remote Underwater Videos (BRUVs) across 26 sites.

Despite the Bahamas’ reputation as a global shark hotspot, the far south remains largely unstudied. Little is known about how sharks use these remote habitats — and filling these knowledge gaps is essential for effective conservation.

Our expedition set out to change that.

Why the Southern Bahamas?

An aerial view of a tropical island with clear turquoise waters surrounding it, a sailboat anchored next to the island, and a sandy beach along the shoreline under a partly cloudy sky.

Although the Bahamas became one of the world’s first shark sanctuaries in 2011, scientific surveys in the southern islands have been limited due to their remoteness and logistical challenges.

Understanding shark distribution here is crucial for:

  • - Acquiring baseline data on shark populations in this region

  • - Identifying key shark hotspots and habitats

  • - Guiding future conservation policies

  • - Understanding ecosystem health

These islands are difficult to access. But that’s precisely where Ocean Roamer excels.

What We Did

Using our vessel and equipment and training provided by BTW, our team surveyed shallow water habitats (seagrass, sand flats and patch reef) along the isolated coastlines of three island chains.

At each site, BRUVs equipped with bait and GoPro cameras were deployed for 100 minutes to document shark presence, abundance and behaviour.

At the end of each deployment cameras were retrieved and all footage downloaded onto SSDs for processing.

Underwater scene with a large sand tiger shark swimming close to the sandy ocean floor, with a bait trap at the bottom and blue water in the background.
Underwater scene with a large shark, a smaller shark, and a ray swimming above the ocean floor with rocks and marine plants.

Data Processing & Scientific Paper

Following the expedition, the Ocean Roamer team processed the BRUV video footage, cataloguing data on all observed species.

We are now co-authoring a scientific paper with BTW, contributing data analysis, interpretation and paper write-up.

Logistics & Field Support

Ocean Roamer provided full operational support including transport, deployment, weather routing, site selection and field safety, enabling a high-volume survey effort in otherwise hard-to-reach locations.

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