Cape Eleuthera Institute, Bahamas blog has a RSS feed available
here.
For instructions on how to subscribe to RSS or to know more about it, visit our
RSS page.
19-11-2008 16:38 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
Plastic lodged in the stomach of a Caribbean reef shark.
Scientific longline surveys inherently carry a low level of mortality for the target species. Some species generally do better than others during capture, usually split between those that can pump water over their gills (e.g. tiger and Caribbean reef sharks) and those that have to be swimming in order to ventilate (e.g. Atlantic and Caribbean sharpnose sharks).
Read more...
31-10-2008 18:48 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
Harriet Dahlstrom - Age 6 - Tags a Baby Tiger Shark
The wind has been causing us some issues for the last couple of weeks – 20 knot winds are not ideal conditions in which to run longline surveys. As such things have been a little slow following the completion of the baited video survey component of this quarter. We have managed to set only twelve longlines so far with another twenty four left to do this month.
Read more...
17-10-2008 16:08 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
A greater hammerhead shark captured during a baited video survey.
The baited video component of the second quarter of sampling is drawing to a close; indeed we shall be running the first longline survey this afternoon. However one of our sample sites had a surprise in store for on the penultimate survey, our first greater hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran) seen on a baited video survey.
Read more...
03-10-2008 09:51 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
Female Tiger Shark 'captured' on a baited video survey
Things have been a bit quiet over here on the fieldwork front. We were not sampling for September so a great deal of time was spent maintaining gear and playing with the data from the first quarter. We got some pretty distinct spatial trends that were echoed by between the two survey techniques.
Read more...
06-09-2008 15:47 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
Carla Henderson, Alexandra Conway and Julia Spaet work up a Caribbean reef shark.
As of the 1st of September 2008 we have officially finished the first quarter sampling period. Thirty-five sharks of five different species were seen on the baited video surveys and 194 sharks from seven species were caught tagged and released from the longline surveys. In addition to the passive tags, fourteen acoustic tags were surgically implanted in Caribbean reef and tiger sharks with ten more for bull shark when they arrive later in the year – it’s been a very busy couple of months!
Read more...
27-08-2008 18:58 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
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!
Read more...
27-08-2008 11:30 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
Atlantic sharpnose shark captured on a baited underwater video survey.
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
Read more...
19-08-2008 09:15 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
TS Fay - National Hurricane Center Image
So not much sharking has been happening recently - TS Fay has passed us to the west and is now beating up southern Florida. She left behind some strong winds and fairly large seas making longline sampling impossible - but what can you do hey! She has also been causing some more indirect problems in getting supplies down from Florida which could delay us some more. It looks like it will be a race to the finish post to get all our sampling done by the end of the month! Thirty sets so far and eighteen more to go!
Still it has given us time to catch up with gear repair and all the other things that fall by the wayside when we are out in the field. It has give me anopportunity to start looking at the data we have gathered over the last two months which has been pretty cool. I will post some preliminary results soon.
Read more...
12-08-2008 14:21 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
The last transmitter.....
OK - So after this mornings post I felt that it was only right to set the record straight.
Today was planned as an office day for me while the rest of the team were out on the boat carrying on the long line surveys. At about 11.30am I get a radio call.... a 210cm male tiger shark, do I want to come and implant a transmitter? Well that's not a tough question to answer, all thoughts of progress reports and program accounts were banished from my mind and off we went.
So that's it, the last transmitter is implanted..... until the winter when we have to start on the bull sharks, but that is a different story altogether!
Read more...
12-08-2008 07:40 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
An Acoustic Transmitter is Inserted into a Caribbean reef shark.
Well - it has been an interesting few days down here in Eleuthera. The rainy season is finally here after months of near drought conditions and as such we have spent a large portion of our time on the water dodging tropical deluges and lighting bolts. The rain is good news for our fresh water cisterns - our only source of fresh water at the Cape Eleuthera Institute - and also seems to be good news for sharks.
Read more...
06-08-2008 09:30 by Edd Brooks (0 comments)
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the first installment of the CEI shark program blog! Its mid summer here in the Bahamas with heavy duty sunshine and 30 + degrees outside - a number which becomes more significant with no air conditioning in the office and no shade on the boat!
For those of you that are not familiar with us and what we do our project this year is focusing on the validation of baited underwater video surveys as a measure of relative abundance in shark populations.
Read more...
Cape Eleuthera Institute, Bahamas blog has a RSS feed available here. 
