Shaaaaahks

I have given a lot of thought to what I would like to do for my final project, and I think I've landed on the topic of sharks. I explored a few different options but this one was the one that I felt most invested in. They are my favorite animal and one I hope to work with in the future as a Conservation Biologist. I want to design a model that examines populations of a shark species and the movement of that species throughout the oceans. Sharks, especially Great Whites, tend to have very specific hunting grounds and patterns of migration so I want to explore why so many of them are moving further north than is historically typical of them.
Although more research needs to be done on my part and what specific factors are likely causing these effects on sharks, I have a few different factors I want to look into. The first, and maybe the most important, is the aspect of food availability. One of the staples of a Great White's diet is seal species, so using data in my model about seal populations (numbers, locations, etc.) is something I'm hoping to be able to do. Since seals are not the only animal Great White's eat, I would also like to include data from other prey species if I can.
In addition, I think it would be interesting to see if I can incorporate climate change data into the model. Personally, I would like to see if the model would show that climate change is having an impact on the sharks and if so, in what way. Another piece of data I would want to include, and this may be the most difficult to obtain, is the changes happening in the oceans in which these sharks live. Are there changes in major currents and water temperature? What does that mean for the sharks and their migration patterns?
In order for this model to work I am going to have to do some much more in-depth research about these migration patterns and changes over long periods of time, and include that data in the model once I have it. After that it will be very important to determine if the factors I have considered are truly impacting sharks within the scope of my project. If not, I will definitely have to edit my project plan and find research and data on the factors that are having an impact. I think this is going to be my biggest challenge, finding the data. Since my projects goals are fairly specific I imagine it might be difficult to acquire the data that I'm looking for , and I may have to make some large adjustments in my model based on the obstacles I run into. Hopefully some of it will be accessible through GIS databases, etc. but I'm honestly not sure how much GIS data there is on marine ecosystems and the other factors I discussed. In my experience with GIS, it has always been landuse and land form data rather than on populations.