BIDDEFORD — It’s arguably one of the most popular weeks on television. Every year, Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week,” a week-long series of shows featuring – you guessed it – sharks, draws scientists and thrill-seekers alike to the edges of their seats. And this year, one local professor will be highlighted in the series’ premiere event.

Dr. James Sulikowski, a professor of marine sciences at the University of New England, will be featured in the week’s first televised special, “Tiger Beach.”

The special follows

Sulikowski and his research collaborator, Neil Hammerschlag of the University of Miami, to the Bahamas where the two have conducted research on the reproduction of tiger sharks.

“How can you imagine the University of New England, a small liberal arts college, working in the Bahamas?” Sulikowski said Wednesday, still in awe at the experience.

Sulikowski’s research is novel in its approach to studying tiger shark reproduction, and shark pregnancy specifically. As opposed to sacrificing sharks to determine if they’re pregnant, as has historically been done, Sulikowski’s approach uses ultrasound machines similar to those used for pregnant women.

“One of the things that I do is develop alternative techniques that are not lethal to study (shark) biology, and one of those is reproduction,” Sulikowski said. “We’re sort of able to bring the technology that doctors use on humans to use them on sharks.”

Sulikowski, whose specialty is shark biology and conservation, said it was this novelty that attracted the Discovery Channel.

“They saw the importance and kind of novelty in the work and wanted to make it an episode and sort of focus on the work that Neil and I were doing … putting all the pieces together is what I think Discovery really liked,” Sulikowski said. “It’s novel, it’s never been done before on ‘Shark Week’ and I think that was an interesting selling point for them.”

Sulikowski said Discovery has come under fire in recent years for providing too much entertainment without strict scientific basis, noting many shows which have featured sharks eating seals and not much else.

“They wanted better science … and we provided a legitimate use of groundbreaking, novel research.”

Beyond Discovery Channel, Sulikowski said the implications of his research are far-reaching.

“If you look at most shark species around the world, you’ve got some that are doing OK, then you’ve got a lot that are endangered, threatened or prohibited,” he said. “You can’t really sacrifice those species in order to study the biology. The ramifications of that is we can use these (new) techniques – using an ultrasound and taking blood – to have better management and conservation of these species.”

Sulikowski said further implications of his research lie in the conservation of areas such as the Bahamas, where sharks of all reproductive stages congregate.

“This area in the Bahamas is sort of this mixed area where a lot of females in different reproductive stages come. It’s this really important area for the survival and conservation of this species,” he said.

But still, Sulikowski is thankful his research – and the prestige of his university – are being recognized, saying it’s “surreal” to be featured, to draw attention to UNE and to introduce his students to this emerging field of research.

And, Sulikowski said, despite the fact he doesn’t have cable and will have to stream the show with his students, he’s looking forward to Sunday night.

“We’re excited. It’s great for my lab, my students and the university,” he said.

“Tiger Beach” airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on the Discovery Channel.

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].