Keith Poe has been tagging large sharks since the mid 1990's, promoting conservation and conducting research in the southern California Bight. His first experiences with tagging sharks started when he worked with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to deploy conventional tags. When CDFW lost funding, he started his own tagging program and passed all the data on to the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) and CDFW.

He works with a large number of different scientific organizations to deploy tags and collect biological samples including the SWFSC, NEFSC, California State University, Long Beach, the Pfleger Institute
of Environmental Research, Marine Conservation Science Institute and Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

His satellite tagging efforts include work at Guadalupe Island Mexico, to deploy SPOT tags on large white sharks over the side of the boat.

Keith has promoted shark conservation through tag and release throughout most of his fishing career. He has taught countless fishermen appropriate tag and release methods. To promote tag and release more broadly, he has written magazine articles, given interviews for radio, T.V. and newspapers, conducted seminars at various fishing shows, and worked with local educational organizations. He even worked to establish an International Game Fish Association living world record for mako and thresher sharks so the larger animals don’t have to be killed to obtain a record. Keith has also been an advisor to the Bill Fish Foundation, United Anglers and Recreational Fishing Alliance.

Keith has made shark conservation and research a way of life.

Our Partners