July 2025

Sharks, rays and skates evoke a sense of wonder and connect us to the ocean in awe-inspiring ways. This July, during shark awareness month, the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher joins with other conservation organizations to celebrate these charismatic creatures in our continued work to protect them.

Here’s what we are doing:

As an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, NCAFF collaborates with SAFE: Shark and Ray which harnesses collective action to build diverse partnerships to deliver effective action for the conservation and recovery of sharks and rays by 2035.
NCAFF features two sand tiger sharks in the Cape Fear Shoals habitat and engages visitors in their conservation as part of our mission. NCAFF also works to protect them through the sand tiger shark tagging project.
The NCAFF promotes Spot A Shark USA, a community science program that engages anyone who spends time on the water in sand tiger shark research along the Atlantic coast.
NCAFF environmental educators inspire visitors to take a deep dive into where they are buying their seafood through the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch.

You can take action to protect sharks by finding out more about the source of your seafood. For anglers it means following fishing regulations to protect sharks from bycatch. Everyone can do something to refuse single-use plastic which wreaks havoc on shark populations and their habitats.

Learning more about sharks and sharing what you’ve learned is another great way to make a difference. We have a very sharky social media campaign that will have you batting a 1,000 on your shark knowledge. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Threads for Take Me Out to the Ocean where you can trade, pin and share shark trading cards.