State’s Leading Shark Research Lab Could Be Devoured by Budget Cuts

If the Long Beach site doesn’t raise $7 million from private donors by June, it may have to shut down.

Warning signs for shark sightings in Long Beach, Calif., on May 16, 2017. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Facing a cut in state funding, California’s lead shark research lab has until June before it pulls the plug on its high-tech shark mitigation system, according to Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab Director Chirs Lowe.

“It’s getting pretty serious,” Mr. Lowe told ABC 7 news in an interview Thursday. “If we don’t get more funding, we’re going to have to pull all of the equipment out of the water. We won’t be able to monitor sharks along California anymore.”