Most recently, OCEARCH tagged Lydia off the Florida coast as part of Expedition Jacksonville, which has been chronicled on the organization’s Facebook page.

You can follow the action at OCEARCH’s Global Shark Tracker.

And researchers have now posted this gripping, not-for-the-squeamish video of the tagging of Lydia. Of necessity, catching, tagging, and releasing a massive great white shark is kind of a brutal process. I guess we can assume from the ongoing pinging of the tagged fish that the process does no lasting damage.

You can read a whole lot more about this project and see where Mary Lee and Genie have pinged at OCEARCH Tracking Central. Genie is not far east of Mary Ann.

There are also two tagged sharks that have pinged off the coast of Africa — one off Mozambique and one off South Africa.

More about OCEARCH:

Shark populations worldwide are under threat with significant declines in shark populations documented in areas where they were once common. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has determined that of the shark and ray species assessed, 30 percent are threatened or near-threatened with extinction. Conserving sharks is thus currently a global conservation priority and devising successful conservation and management strategies is largely limited by our scientific knowledge on their biology.

Significant information is lacking with regard to the medium and long range movement patterns of white sharks. Traditional research has focused on fine small scale movements of white sharks within known aggregation sites. Gaining this previously unattainable information enables more effective shark and ocean conservation and – protection of human life.

Our collaborative work with leading researchers and their institutions generates data in a number of areas pertaining to shark ecology.

UPDATE, Jan. 8, 6:40 p.m.:
This post has gotten a lot of hits today, so I wanted to be sure and update it. As of about two hours ago, Mary Lee had worked her way well away from shore — but still not too far off the coast at Jacksonville.

Here’s a screen cap of the most recent image from OCEARCH Global Shark Tracker:

UPDATE, 1/9:

A great interview with OCEARCH founder Chris Fischer on CNN:

Regrettably, Zillow’s data does not give an estimate for Savannah home prices.

From Zillow, which has been generating some really high quality data and predictions over the last couple of years:

Zillowâ€s July Real Estate Market Reports, released today, show that home values increased 0.5 percent to $151,600 from June to July (Figure 1), marking another month of healthy monthly appreciation. Compared to July 2011, home values are up by 1.2 percent (Figure 2), supported in many places by low for-sale inventory. Inventory shortages are being fueled by negative equity and a slowed distribution of REOs. According to Zillowâ€s first quarter Negative Equity Report, 31.4 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are underwater. A more in-depth analysis of the impact of negative equity on inventory shortages can be found here. In conjunction with rising home values, rents continued to rise in July, appreciating by 0.2 percent from June to July. On an annual basis, rents across the nation are up by 5.4 percent (Figure 3).

Let me emphasize that the percentage of underwater mortgages excludes all homes that are owned outright. Also, the percentage of mortgages underwater should decline significantly with even a slight rise in prices since most mortgage holders are also paying down principal.

A couple of the figures from Zillow:

I might loop back around and talk about that fascinating rental data in a future post.

As upbeat as some of this data looks, it’s not uniform across the country.

Check out this embedded graph from Zillow, with Atlanta, Charleston, and Jacksonville prices compared to the nation as a whole:

Click here to create your own graphs based on metro or statewide data.

Please note that all percentages cited here and in the data are reflective only of the pool of homes that have mortgages. About a third of homes in the country do not have mortgages.

Percentage of homes underwater:

• Chatham County – 37% (in worst 20% of counties nationwide)
• Bryan County – 30%
• Effingham County – 38% (in worst 20% of counties nationwide)
• Duval County (Jacksonville) – 57% (in worst 5% of counties nationwide)
• Jasper County, S.C. – 46% (in worst 10% of counties nationwide)
• Beaufort County, S.C. – 30%
• Charleston County, S.C. – 32%

A screenshot of Zillow's interactive map of underwater mortgages by county

And in the Atlanta metro area, all in the worst 5% of counties nationwide:

• Gwinnett County – 59%
• Dekalb County – 58%
• Fulton County – 49%
• Cobb County – 47%

And in the outer ring of the Atlanta metro area, all in the worst 1% of counties nationwide:

• Newton – 74%
• Henry – 68%
• Clayton – 85%
• Douglas – 70%
• Paulding – 71%
• Rockdale – 64%
• Barrow – 70%

If you’ve been wondering why economists and economic commentators like me have been predicting such a slow recovery for Georgia, just consider all the drag that these numbers create in local, regional, and state economies.

Here in Georgia, we had irrational enthusiasm for housing and a wild west banking system, compounded in the years since the bust by no proactive policies at the state level and by ineffective policies at the federal level.