Now the hard work begins!
As the start of the whale shark monitoring season approaches things here have become very hectic, but it seems that all is now ready so we have a few moments to update you of our activities.
Over the last few years the amount of data that the programme has developed has been growing dramatically and it has become necessary to look at our eco-volunteer programme in a more formal manner. This year we are running a 10- week internship programme incorporating a two week training session so that everyone is up to speed on the various activities. David will be assisted by Katie Brooks and Luke Riley who will be the two team leaders for the season. Katie has worked as a volunteer and team leader on the MCSS programme in 2006 and 2007 as well as working on the Australian Whale Shark programmes on Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia in 2007. Luke also assisted the MCSS whale shark programme in 2007 and is thus familiar with the activities.
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So – I need to pass on big thanks for to a number of people who have been invaluable in making this project happen this quarter. The project would not have run without them!
So the really big thanks must go to two people so far –
Number One is Nikki Weeden and undergraduate from University of Plymouth who spent two months helping to run the baited video component of the project and will be writing up a portion of the results for her undergraduate thesis.
So – I need to pass on big thanks for to a number of people who have been invaluable in making this project happen this quarter. The project would not have run without them!
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So it’s been a while since the last update. Finally, last Thursday, the wind from TS Fay abated a little and we were able to get back to our sampling. We were fishing the wall zone where historically our highest catches have been so we were pretty sure we would see sharks. Our record so far this project was sixteen sharks from four species on a single longline set – that was a busy day! As expected we caught few sharks, thirteen to be precise, of which only one was a Caribbean reef and the rest were all sharpnose sharks, ten Atlantic and two Caribbean – I think! A new record for the largest number of a single species on a set!
The Bahamas is an interesting place to look at sharpnose sharks. It is reportedly the only place in the world where the home range of the Caribbean sharpnose and the Atlantic sharpnose overlap and as such we are probably the only shark research program in the world that catches both on the same longline. Which raises a problem – telling the two apart.
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The white shark research project is a multi-faceted programme that aims to better understand the role of these sharks in ecosystems and make sure that relevant ecological information is collected to ensure management and conservation measures are up-to-date and adequate. The project also strives to build a better relationship between coastal communities and their toothy neighbours through the dissemination of this scientific information. Shark bites have a negative effect on both people and sharks and if we can reduce the already small risk of a shark bite through using the research data, then we can make a meaningful contribution to white shark conservation, contribute to the local communities well-being and set a precedent in how people and sharks can co-exist. Photo courtesy Morne’ Hardenberg
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Just a little update to show that all is not lost; the wisdom of marine conservation is trickling out, slowly but surely across the globe. In this case it’s in the form of a Japanese primary school teacher getting in touch to tell us that she used the SOSF produced All the Way to the Ocean book in an environmental class she was teaching. The book illustrates how all our waterways are connected, and because of this what goes down our drains often ends up finding its way to the ocean.
Our friends started off by reading the book in their class, then headed to the beach to see the connections water makes for themselves, before finally going on to draw posters based on their experiences.
The Floating Points says “Lead on young eco-warriors!”.
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