New Specialty Shark License Plate

By Michelle Klampe

Vouchers are now on sale for a new specialty Oregon license plate that researchers hope will inspire people to think differently about the sharks living just off the Oregon Coast.

Sales of the “Vibrant Ocean” plate, which features three shark species commonly found in Oregon, will support the Big Fish Lab(Link is external) at Oregon State University. Funds will be used for research to better understand the role sharks play in Oregon’s coastal marine ecosystem; outreach and education efforts in the community; and training opportunities for students and staff.

“Funding shark research is hard. Sharks are not delicious or cuddly but they’re critically important,” said Taylor Chapple, an assistant professor and founder of the Big Fish Lab. “Our mission in the Big Fish Lab is to better understand the importance of sharks and to share their story broadly. This license plate will help us do that. “Our hope is that with every plate, we get closer to appreciating that sharks aren’t the mindless killers of Hollywood, but dynamic and important actors in our vibrant oceans.”

The Big Fish Lab must sell 3,000 vouchers before the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles will begin manufacturing the plates. The vouchers cost $40, with about $35 going directly to the lab. For more information or to purchase a voucher, visit https://marineresearch.oregonstate.edu/vibrant-ocean(Link is external).

The Big Fish Lab was established in 2019 and is the first and only dedicated shark research program in Oregon. It is based in the College of Agricultural Sciences’ Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.

As apex predators, sharks play a critical role in ocean ecosystems by regulating species abundance, distribution and diversity, but they are also some of the most threatened due to overfishing, habitat loss, climate change and pollution, Chapple said. “The 15 species of sharks off our shores help keep Oregon’s coastal ecosystems and the economies dependent on them vibrant and productive, from the crab in your pot to the salmon on your grill. Oregon's ocean abundance is largely thanks to our sharks,” he said. “The public’s support helps us better understand these critical predators and insure the continued vibrant oceans that define Oregon.”

The license plate was designed by Natalie Donato, a third-year Honors College undergraduate student from Folsom, California. Donato, who is studying marine biology and ecology in OSU’s College of Science, is also an artist with an interest in interdisciplinary approaches to science communication that incorporate artwork. Her design features a large salmon shark in the center, with two blue sharks on the left and a common thresher shark on the right. “I set out to create a scene that represents the feeling of a vibrant underwater world, depicting the sharks in a more realistic form and the vivid, inspiring feeling that resonates with me when I view the ocean,” she said. “Capturing the flow, depth, and fluid feeling of being underwater and present with the calm, inquisitive sharks played a key role in the direction of the design, channeling that feeling from the imperfection and variation of the light beams, scars and details on the sharks, and the individual shimmering fish meant to bring the scene to life.”

Donato was working on a research project in Chapple’s lab when he noticed some of her artwork and asked her to consider designing a license plate. Seeing the final result has been incredible, she said. “I stared at it for so long on my computer screen, but seeing the design on the physical metal plate with the slight, sparkly metallic sheen helped reality set in,” Donato said. “The cherry on top of the already sweet situation is that the design supports research that I’m also invested in.”

The shark plate is the most recent in a series of specialty license plates benefiting Oregon State University. The new Beaver plate, which supports Beaver athletics and strategic marketing initiatives, will be issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles starting April 7. People who purchased vouchers for that plate will be able to redeem them at that time, and Oregonians also will be able to purchase them at any DMV location then. The Oregon gray whale license plate(Link is external), which launched in 2019, benefits the Marine Mammal Institute at OSU. The Pollinator Paradise plate(Link is external) supports bee research conducted by the OSU Extension Pollinator Health and Honey Bee Lab programs.