Organization tracks great white sharks off Wrightsville Beach

The research group made famous by catching and tagging great white sharks is off the North Carolina coast this week.

Ocearch, a non-profit organization researching great white sharks and other large predators, has already made a couple of big catches off the coast of Wrightsville Beach.

On June 16, the group caught a tiger shark that it named Orlando, as a tribute to the nightclub shooting victims. The 8-foot shark’s tracking device pinged several times over the past week, including twice Wednesday morning.

On Monday, Ocearch nabbed a bigger tiger shark, named Carolina, that measured more than 9-feet long.

Ocearch is partnering with the North Carolina Aquariums on their latest expedition. The group set out to catch and tag sand tiger sharks because they’re a threatened species, but the sand tiger sharks will not be included in Ocearch’s online tracking map.