SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) — The arrival of summer in Rhode Island also means the arrival of several species of sharks.

Jon Dodd, executive director of the Atlantic Shark Institute in South Kingstown, hopes to learn more about them by trying to catch and tag several, dropping video cameras into the water to observe them in their natural habitat, and monitoring acoustic equipment to get a better idea of their travel patterns.

He tells the Providence Journal that sharks are critical to the health of the world’s oceans.

The institute is studying great white, shortfin mako, thresher, porbeagle and blue sharks.