Blue Shark Vodka and the Atlantic Shark Institute share a long-standing partnership built on a single belief: the ocean is worth protecting. Blue Shark Vodka was founded out of a love for the sea and a commitment to safeguarding an environment that sustains both marine life and the people who depend on it. Part of that commitment means using the brand’s voice to raise awareness of the vital role sharks play in keeping marine ecosystems in balance.
The Atlantic Shark Institute, led by founder and executive director Jon Dodd, is a leading shark research organization that collaborates with many of the most respected shark researchers working in the northwest Atlantic.
The ASI provides the expertise needed, in partnership with fellow researchers to answer the most pressing questions about the biology, survival, and sustainability of the region’s sharks. Together, Blue Shark Vodka and the Atlantic Shark Institute work toward a common goal: to leave the ocean better than they found it.
Like every shark species, the sand tiger shark plays an essential part in the ocean ecosystem. These sharks can grow up to approximately 10 feet long and feed on a varied diet of fish, squid, crabs, and lobsters. They range across the Atlantic — from the coasts of North and South America to Europe and northern Africa — and inhabit both nearshore and open water. With rows of narrow, jagged teeth jutting from their mouths, sand tigers can look menacing, but they are not considered aggressive toward people. Like most sharks, they tend to live by a simple rule: leave them alone, and they’ll leave you alone.
The sand tiger has one of the more remarkable reproductive strategies in the ocean. The species is ovoviviparous, meaning eggs hatch inside the mother and the young are born live. Within each of the female’s two uteri, the strongest developing embryo consumes its smaller siblings — a process known as intrauterine cannibalism. The result is two well-developed pups, each born about three feet long.
Because a female produces only two pups per cycle, sand tiger populations fall quickly when the species is overfished or loses suitable habitat, and they recover slowly. The International Union for Conservation of Nature now lists the sand tiger shark as Critically Endangered, with global numbers estimated to have declined more than 80 percent over the past three generations. In U.S. Atlantic waters, the shark has been protected from commercial and recreational harvest since 1997 — one reason the northwest Atlantic population is among the healthier ones worldwide — but its recovery remains fragile.
To better understand that population, the Atlantic Shark Institute and partners have been studying sand tiger sharks using whole genome sequencing to assess the genetic population as well as tagging technologies to study movement ecology, seasonal migration patterns, regional residency, and environmental drivers of habitat use.
Sharks are still harvested at an alarming rate, and Blue Shark Vodka is committed to doing something about it. In partnership with the Atlantic Shark Institute, the brand helps raise awareness and funding for critical research on the sand tiger shark. Studying where these sharks travel, how they reproduce, and what they need to survive is essential to understanding the species — and the role it plays in a healthy ocean. That work matters beyond a single species: thriving oceans support biodiversity, help regulate the climate, provide food and livelihoods, and sustain the balance that marine life and people alike depend on.
Read more about our work with the Atlantic Shark Institute on our Philanthropy page.
Sources
International Union for Conservation of Nature. “Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus).” IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2021.
“Sand Tiger Shark.” Tennessee Aquarium, tnaqua.org/animal/sand-tiger-shark/.
