A scientific shark survey called as the Global FinPrint project has just started meant to count sharks and rays at coral reefs all across the globe. It is expected that the census can provide valuable information about the sharks and their related activities.

Marine biologist Mike Heithaus from Florida International University said that sharks are very important. They maintain the natural balance underwater by eating turtles and sea cows. The project will also help know more about a concern as per which a significant decline has come in the sharks’ population in some parts of the world.

The project is receiving four million dollars in investment from Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc. The project will also lead to collaborations across the world. Currently, things are not much clear when it comes to sharks.

It is expected that the project will lead experts to exactly know the problem areas where they have to work and where sharks need to be protected and areas where there could be a requirement of rebuilding their populations.

There are certain areas where 90% of the shark population is facing threat owing to overfishing. “We're going to get local scientists and groups to work with us and then we're going to put it all together into one big project”, said Dr. Mike Heithaus of FIU, who is one of the leaders on the three-year project.

Till now, the scientists involved in the project have collected video data from coral reefs in Australia and Belize. More cameras will be deployed on the reefs of South Florida and other parts. Best part is all the videos will be made public and eventually, distributed to schools.