Sal: 25 miles off the coast of California are a chain of islands where we can find some
of the largest white sharks in the world.
The Farallon Islands is one of the few
spots where white sharks really spend
the majority of their time.  They're not
swimming up and down the coast so much as they are coming to a spot like the
Farallones, and just hanging out here for
2-3 months sometimes at a time. It's a spot where
there are a lot of marine mammals.
Elephant seals, sea lions, harbor seals,
fur seals, and that seems to be what
white sharks are targeting.
Sal: The seals are trying to get between the open ocean and the land, and they're running the
gauntlet through this area--and this is
kind of the high-risk area where the sharks patrol.
Sal: When you see a 17-foot
shark swim by the boat and it's enormous,
Scot: Look at the size of 'em!
Sal: and then you watch one eat an entire
elephant seal, it's pretty humbling.
Scot: Sickle-Fin!
Sal: Maybe Sickle-Fin, that would make sense.
Scot: Yeah, it's Sickle-Fin. Sickle-Fin is a shark we've known for, I don't know, eight years
now or something like that.
Sal: It's dorsal fin has sort of a sickle shape
near the top, and uh, a pretty consistent shark--we see it a lot here.
Sal: The way we study sharks involves attracting the shark towards the research boat
using a decoy that resembles a seal. And
you cast this seal out there on the end
of a fishing line. If you're in the right
place at the right time, pretty soon a white
shark comes and investigates. 
Scot: There it is! There it is! Now keep pulling, keep pulling!
Sal: We tease them up towards the boat, and as they swim around the boat, that gives us an opportunity to
take data and apply tags.
Sal: We're getting closer
to solving some of the mysteries around
these sharks. How many are out there? Why is this place so important to them?
And the more we learn, the better we can
protect these majestic predators.
