Cape Cod , Massachusetts ( CNN ) -- When coming face to face with the monstrous jaws of a great white shark , you 'd probably want to be armed with more than a wet towel . It seems almost insane to think placing a dark cloth over the formidable killer 's eyes will help calm it down for long enough to attach electronic tags , take blood samples , and even conduct an ultrasound . But in the space of just 15 minutes , a towel is one of the tools used to placate the fearsome creature while a team of researchers carry out important investigations into its mysterious living habits . This is Ocearch in action -- a group of gutsy scientists and sailors traveling the high seas on their 38-meter floating laboratory , as part of a mission to tag and monitor an ancient animal we know surprisingly little about . Watch more : Ocearch scientists tag great white . `` We do n't know much about the great white shark 's natural history , its ecology from day to day , how it lives and interacts with its environment , '' said Greg Skomal , chief fisheries scientist on board Ocearch . `` But when you come onto this vessel and you have a live animal in front of you that you can study , it just opens new doors -- you can get a more robust assessment in a very short period of time . '' 'You 're gon na need a bigger boat ' Just a few kilometers from where Steven Spielberg filmed his 1975 Hollywood blockbuster , `` Jaws , '' the Ocearch team is also on the lookout for sharks . Cruising along the Cape Cod coastline in Massachusetts , they lure the predators with mashed-up herrings , tuna , and a dummy in the shape of a seal . Previously used to catch crabs , the converted Ocearch vessel features a hydraulic lift -- much like a giant cradle -- to lift the great whites out of the sea . It 's up to captain Brett McBride to jump in the water and guide the sharks onto the platform , making sure to leave a good 10 meters between himself and the carnivores , which can grow up to six meters long . `` As soon as we bring them on the platform the first thing I do is cover their eyes with a dark , wet towel and that usually calms them right down , '' said McBride . `` Then I will take two hoses with a lot of volume of water and make sure that it 's nice , clean seawater with bubbles in it that will cascade down each side of the gills . '' Pit stop science . The scientists then have 15 minutes to bolt a satellite tracking tag to the fin , insert another acoustic tag in the abdomen , attach a third tag monitoring scale movements and tail beats , take blood and tissue samples , and even conduct an ultrasound . The whole operation has the appearance of an F1 racing car pit stop , with researchers crouched on either side and hurriedly attaching $ 10,000-worth of high-tech equipment , expected to last around five years . Since launching in 2007 , the team has tagged over 60 great whites , helping to build a global map of shark migration . Scientists first started tagging the mysterious creature in the 1960s , often using a harpoon to attach a GPS device . Around 500 great whites have since been tagged around the world , revealing fascinating glimpses into their movements through the world 's oceans . One of the greatest distances ever recorded was that of a great white traveling from South Africa to Australia in 99 days -- a distance of 11,100 kilometers . `` What we have found is that male ( great white ) sharks are all living along the beach all the time -- they have very little off-shore life , '' said Ocearch expedition leader Chris Fischer , whose team has researched great white movements off southern Africa . `` But the females go way out over Madagascar , and even out into the middle of the Indian Ocean , and they hang around out there for months and months . What are they doing out there ? Are they gestating their babies ? Are they feeding ? '' Time to act . It 's exactly these questions that push the team to quite literally dive in the deep end with the terrifying -- and captivating -- animals . `` Shark populations worldwide are under threat -- sharks are being slaughtered at an unsustainable rate , many for a bowl of soup , '' said Fischer . `` This unsustainable harvest rate is driven by the demand for shark fins , meat and other products , and puts not only sharks at risk , but also the entire balance of the ocean . '' Ocearch gives a name to each shark it tags -- from Katherine , to Curly , and Junior -- in an effort to build people 's relationships with them and reflect their unique personalities . `` Katherine will travel 1,000 miles ( 1,609 kilometers ) a month -- she will visit Bermuda , she will travel down the southeast coast , she will go to places we do n't understand , '' said Fischer of one of the sharks . `` This project is about solving the annual movements of the great white shark around the north Atlantic -- it 's a 450-million-year mystery and today everyone gets to watch it unfold in real time . ''
Meet Ocearch , a gutsy team of scientists and sailors examining sharks close-up . Researchers haul great whites on board ship as part of investigation into living habits . Attach $ 10,000 worth of equipment to feared creatures , expected to last five years .