Due to the fact that it was a re-sighting, we have growth measurements, and are able to determine the growth rate over the course of nine months. In addition this gives us information that sharks are coming from other areas of the world that allow active hunting. We are using special software called IS3 to analyze all of the ID shots that we have taken this season and will be able to calculate growth rates for many animals.
The depth was probably only about eight meters. This shark almost stopped swimming to let us take a look. It was also feeding in two different ways. It was really interesting. This shark was swimming on top of a reef; on this reef, we saw two other sharks—one was swimming and one was feeding. Our afternoon snorkel was in a really great location just off the mangroves. We had multiple white-tip reef sharks with one swimming right amongst the group then diving away.
While the weather and sharks were absolutely amazing today, the most amazing part was one of our passengers Vicky. Vicky is living with terminal brain cancer, and one of the things she wanted to do with her remaining 18 months, was swim with a whale shark. Today she got to do just that. On the afternoon snorkel I towed her along, and we looked at some amazing coral. She thanked me, and told me she wants to take up snorkeling now—because this was her first time! Getting to spend the day with Vicky was really humbling. It is really nice to meet someone who puts everything into perspective. I am so happy I got to meet Vicky, and I am so thankful for everything I have—including my health.
Today Oceanwise spent another full day on the boat, and in the lab.
Check out this photoset on Flickr.
In addition we saw a variety of other sharks including tigers, reef, and bronze whaler sharks. There was an oceanic manta spotted below one of the sharks as well.
We had a really nice day on the water with visibility slightly down on the 30+ meters we have had all week due to coral spawn making the water slightly cloudy.
Another stunning day with exceptional visibility and lots of sharks.
Check out this photoset on Flickr.
We spent a full day on the boat collecting data on three whale sharks. Today we saw our first hammerhead shark for the season swimming off the left side of the boat as we were looking for whale sharks. We are winding up the use of I3S software to ID all our whale sharks. This ID information will help us with the scarring and growth rate research we conduct.
We saw a total of four whale sharks today. We only collected data on three of the sharks, because one dove almost immediately after we entered the water. Once again, Oceanwise continues to collect data on whale sharks and other marine life from the boat, and in the water. The use of our new Oceanwise whale shark app created by Sandy Gorham expedites all our data collection and management. After data collection, we review the information nightly.
Our morning snorkel was at a site called coral garden and passengers got comfortable with their gear and enjoyed the fantastic visibility of at least 15 meters. Rex our skipper headed our vessel out through North passage to the back of Ningaloo Reef.
Our first whale shark spotted was a male measuring 5.5 meters and was swimming fairly fast but our second shark was a smaller female size measuring 7.5 meters and was swimming slower as it was passive feeding on the sub surface. The third shark was a 5.5 meter male Sandy was able to get important stereo video footage of the three whale sharks and I.D. shots. We headed back through North passage into the lagoon and had a nutritional lunch.
Our morning snorkel was at a site called coral garden and passengers got comfortable with their gear and enjoyed the fantastic visibility of at least 15 meters. Rex our skipper headed our vessel out through North passage to the back of Ningaloo Reef.
Our first whale shark spotted was a huge male measuring 9 meters and swimming fairly fast. Our second shark was a smaller male measuring 7.5 meters and our third was another 7.5m male swimming slower as it was passive feeding on the sub surface. Sandy was able to get important stereo video footage of the three whale sharks and I.D. shots. We headed back through North passage into the lagoon and had a nutritional lunch and afternoon snorkel.
Oceanwise Expeditions and passengers had a beautiful day out with perfect calm conditions and warm weather. The day began with a bus trip out to Tantabiddi boat ramp before everyone arrived on Ningaloo Spirit.
Check out this photoset on Flickr.
Our morning snorkel was at a site called coral garden and passengers got comfortable with their gear and enjoyed the fantastic visibility of at least 15 meters. Rex our skipper headed our vessel out through North passage to the back of Ningaloo Reef.
Our first whale shark spotted was a female measuring 4.5 meters and was swimming fairly fast but our second shark was a smaller female size measuring 5.5 meters and was swimming slower as it was passive feeding on the sub surface. Sandy was able to get important stereo video footage of the three whale sharks and I.D. shots. We headed back through North passage into the lagoon and had a nutritional lunch.
We got some really interesting data today. We only swam with one shark, but this shark was missing its’ entire second dorsal fin. It also had some toxic blue paint (TBT) on its’ side that is banned in Australia, and some abrasions. Therefore, this individual encountered a boat either outside of Australian waters, or a boat that was old—and not up to date with its’ regulations.
Check out this photoset on Flickr.
After finishing up on the boat, we returned home to upload and analyze data. This takes a lot of time, but is very interesting. We have to upload the still images, the videos, and the stereo-video footage. Then we organize all these files into folders on the computer. Once they are on the computer, we then go over the images, and categorize/quantify the scarring. In addition, we used the app on the iPad to collect data. This app organizes all the information we collect on the shark.
On our second day at the boat we saw a total of four sharks, a manta ray, a turtle, and a few dolphins. We collected stereo-video, still images and collected data on these sharks. We saw our first major scar on a shark. This shark had major boat scares on it's dorsal fin.
At this point, the boat then came to pick up our group, and this exercise was completed a few times per shark. The second and third sharks were moving much slower, and were much easier to spot. They were much larger and we did not have to worry about handballing the shark to another group. Overall, swimming with these animals was really incredible, and interacting with the group of tourists was a lot of fun. After this swim, we have a second snorkel where we relaxed and ate lunch. After lunch, we jetted back to the boat ramp and on the way Ben gave a presentation about the research we do on the boat. He talked about whale sharks in general, as well as the specific research everyone is conducting on the boat. Overall, today was a great day. It was really interesting working on a boat and learning the difficulties as well as the rewards of maintaining an operation like Oceanwise.
Killing wildlife: Is this really the best we can come up with?
Speech made at the Shark Rally Event in Bunbury Feb. 1st, 2014.
By Dr Ben Fitzpatrick, Director, Oceanwise Expeditions.
As a PhD in Marine Science, with honours in Applied Fisheries Science and as a Zoologist and Environmental Scientist specialized in measuring the impact of humans on marine ecosystems, we need targeted, humane and focused solutions not actions that are potentially disastrous for endangered animals and ecosystems. Having swam with and observed thousands of sharks during three decades as a commercial diver, skipper, surfer and swimmer there have been just a handful of occasions where there was legitimate safety concerns for me. During all this time around the water I have seen just two great white sharks: one that died after launching itself into a tinny in Bunbury in 1987, and a live one up North in 2013.
For the most part the government has been extremely progressive in response to the shark attack fatalities that have occurred in Western Australia. In addition to the worlds most advanced tagging and tracking program, long overdue research is underway on shark sensory systems for the development of shark detection, interference and repellent technologies [3, 4]. I am largely ambivalent to the deployment of drum-lines following an attack in an effort to catch the animal. In this case these lines would be supervised and animals removed from the hooks relatively quickly. The shark would likely be long gone and it is unlikely the correct animal would be caught. For legal and personal reasons this measure could be justifiable. The latest policy of the permanent deployment of drum lines is not. Lets keep the magnitude of this threat in perspective [5]. The tragedy of lost lives should be used to catalyse the progressive development of worlds best practice in wildlife policy, research, tourism and management and the deployment of drum lines to pre-emptively kill animals is not worlds best practice in any of these disciplines. Its a practice from a time when we knew a lot less about our natural environment.
Give the ocean a break!
The combined impacts of global climate change, destructive fisheries, habitat destruction, coastal development, plastic pollution and more continue to wreak havoc on our oceans [6-11]. Globally 10 of the 13 major fisheries in the world have collapsed, 90% of our large marine fish biomass has disappeared and of the 10% left, over 100 million individual sharks and rays are killed annually [1, 7, 12]. A quarter of these species are threatened with extinction. Sharks are some of the most fascinating, ancient, long-lived and least understood creatures on this planet and we are systematically hunting them to extinction [13]. Destructive hunting has driven great white sharks to the brink of extinction and they, along with many other species are listed on international, national and state legislation to protect us from wiping these animals off the face of this planet [14]. We are privileged in WA that we can still witness these incredible animals in the wild. There are so many more urgent environmental issues of massively real consequence for humanity that need attention now.
These large apex predators are the habitat architects and ecosystem engineers of our oceans. If we loose these animals we run the risk of marine ecosystem collapse. Long term study of the impact the loss of predators have on marine ecosystems are difficult to achieve [15-17]. In many instances predators like great whites have been dramatically impacted well before any detailed scientific understanding of associated ecosystems has been reached . Nonetheless there are some examples where the loss of sharks, predatory reef fish, otters, wolves, and grizzly bears have shown us how entire ecosystems respond to the loss of predators. For instance, the removal of great sharks resulted in the increase of their ray, skate and small shark prey to such an extent that they ate all the scallops in the area which led to the collapse of a century-long scallop fishery [18]. In habitats where snapper are depleted, one of their main prey, sea urchins, explode in numbers and destroy the macro-algae habitats the rest of the ecosystem depends upon for food and shelter [19]. Similarly, the loss of otters who would otherwise be eating urchins and other invertebrates, meant their prey too are eating their way through our giant kelp forests from the seafloor, destroying these ecosystems at such an alarming rate there may soon be none left [20]. In examples from the land, where grizzly bears would normally be catching salmon from streams and eating their carcasses in the nearby woods, this no longer occurs and the forests are being deprived of vital nutrients [21]. Without wolves in Yellowstone NP, coyote numbers run rampant, eating all the rodents and small prey and depriving other small predators like hawks of food. And without these wolves eating elk, the elk ran rampant, spreading disease, eating all the vegetation and tree seedlings, meaning beavers have no trees to build dams, which means riverine landscapes and the biodiversity they support are fundamentally altered and degraded [22]. Without apex predators like great whites exerting their influence on ecosystems, the productivity and diversity in our coastal environments are jeopardized.
White sharks are data deficient, endangered and vulnerable to extinction.
Indiscriminately killing long lived, slow growing animals that only produce few young and number in the mere thousands in WA is not a good idea [23]. For such a small population every death matters [24]. We have very little data on white shark population status and what information we do have does not suggest a dramatic increase in their population [25]. We know very little about their most basic biology, their senses, where they breed, their habits and movements. Even if a great white is caught it will be dumped at sea and not used to advance science. Their spatial movement and feeding behaviour is equally hard to define, where one individual might migrate vast distances from Albany to Ningaloo to South Africa and back in search of food, another may happily feed and remain close to the one spot for years [26]. Indeed despite there being large numbers of white sharks in close proximity to swimmers at the east coast white shark nursery there has never been a single attack [27]. Where an abundance of individuals offer no threat to humans, on very rare and statistically random occasions, individual sharks have. We cannot generalize white shark behaviour. It is simply impossible to predict where an attack might occur and most fatalities have occurred at sites far from where the Government has set current lines. An indiscriminate cull of our wildlife in an attempt to mitigate shark attack is a shotgun approach to a problem that requires application of precise science to solve.
Culling our wildlife is jeopardizing taxpayer funded research.
And ironically the best chance we have of answering some of these questions is being jeopardized by this policy. Over the last decade the Western Australian public have invested millions of dollars in one of the worlds most sophisticated shark tagging and tracking programs [28]. Hundreds of sharks have been surgically implanted with acoustic tags that swim through an array of acoustic receivers, transmitting their location to the public through SMS and twitter. This ongoing program represents a massive investment by the WA public and a significant collaboration between state, interstate, federal and private entities. Drum-lining does not discriminate a tagged shark and these same tagged and tracked white, tiger and bull sharks, some which have been studied for close to a decade, could be caught, shot and dumped at sea. In the process we will be squandering our best chance at gaining the very knowledge we need to help predict when and where these animals are and accordingly mitigate and minimize human shark interaction. Why jeopardize such progressive research when we could do the opposite and ramp it up?
Bait attracts sharks.
But sharks are not indiscriminate feeding machines and don’t always eat the first thing they see [29]. Thousands of hours of footage of remote underwater stereo video shows although sharks (many completely harmless) are attracted to bait they often swim straight past. So permanently set baits, like drum-lines, attract sharks but don’t necessarily catch them. For this reason when fisheries undertake sampling surveys of sharks, reef fish and other fish stocks, it is operational policy not to set baited fishing gears such as traps or lines in close proximity to populated swimming beaches as this may attract sharks to the area and pose unacceptable risk to the public. Drum-lining goes against normal fisheries operational policy and does not make any rational sense from either a public safety policy or shark behavioural perspective. In addition there is no such thing as a selective hook; anything that can fit the bait in their mouth can be caught [30]. It is highly indiscriminate, attracting not just sharks but large fish, marine mammals and reptiles, rays, sea lions and more [31].
Drum-lining is indiscriminate and inhumane
Ironically drum-lining does not selectively target dangerous sharks. In fact drum-lining is an indiscriminate method of catching large marine fauna, non target species and undersized target species alike [32]. During 30 years of QLD and NSW shark control, 90% of the animals destroyed, represent no risk to humans [31]. Animals hooked overnight on drum-lines will likely die or be eaten. Sharks struggle against an anchor and, more so then humans, experience rapid lactic acid build up, quickly becoming exhausted and drowning [33]. Other animals including air-breathing marine mammals such as dugongs dolphins and turtles, many of which are protected, endangered or threatened, simply drown [34]. Commercially valuable species under intense fishing pressure elsewhere are wastefully killed and dumped [31]. Potentially dangerous sharks as defined by this policy are actually just a minor catch, hardly making this a targeted shark mitigation strategy. Rather this is an indiscriminate method of treating many species inhumanely, some of which are protected species.
Is this really the best we can come up with?
The drum-lining policy is costing potentially millions of dollars, whilst simultaneously jeopardizing a groundbreaking taxpayer funded research program on white sharks. In an attempt to catch and kill the tiny proportion of individuals greater then 3 m of a highly protected, threatened and poorly understood species the great white shark, it is attracting sharks to our most popular beaches and arguably placing swimmers at greater risk then if there were no baits in the first place. It is questionable if the other two target species, bull and tiger sharks could be considered a threat to humans when neither has been implicated in an attack in WA for decades. That aside, drum-lining indiscriminately and inhumanely catches many more non-target species and undersized target sharks then not and it runs the risk of impacting the very ecosystem that is the lifeblood of Western Australia’s fisheries, tourism and recreational industries.
There are countless better ways to address this issue.
We are sending boats out to catch animals and we have a choice. These animals can be shot in the head and dumped at sea or we deploy and monitor the same number of drum-lines and with minor additional effort tag them with acoustic pingers to become part of our tracking program. The same amount of effort is spent deploying drum lines. The same number of ‘dangerous’ sharks are being caught. The difference is we are not indiscriminately destroying our natural heritage and further endangering animals whose existence is just a push away from extinction. This effectively renders them harmless to the degree that our early warning system allows. If places like Brazil and Hawaii can do this then certainly, as one of the most prosperous progressive communities on earth we can too. There are also of course a whole kitbag of alternatives such as increased education, patrols and shark barriers as well as many exciting repellents that will develop given the impetus [35, 36]. We have the technology and expertise to increase public safety and knowledge of these animals and replace some of the fear we collectively feel (and I certainly feel) with hard fought rational knowledge. Silence means I would condone the Governments actions and I cannot. They are outdated and we know far more about the marine environment then when this kind of practice was common.
References:
1. Dulvy, N.K., et al., Extinction risk and conservation of the world’s sharks and rays. eLife, 2014. 3.
2. Gallagher, A.J. and N. Hammerschlag, Global shark currency: the distribution, frequency, and economic value of shark ecotourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 2011. 14(8): p. 797-812.
3. Bruce, B., J. Stevens, and H. Malcolm, Movements and swimming behaviour of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in Australian waters. Marine Biology, 2006. 150(2): p. 161-172.
4. WA, D.o.F. $967,000 awarded to shark mitigation research. 2012 [cited 2014 15.02.2014]; Available from: http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/About-Us/Media-releases/Pages/$967,000-awarded-to-shark-mitigation-research.aspx.
5. West, J.G., Changing patterns of shark attacks in Australian waters. Marine and Freshwater Research, 2011. 62(6): p. 744-754.
6. Hoegh-Guldberg, O. and J.F. Bruno, The Impact of Climate Change on the World’s Marine Ecosystems. Science, 2010. 328(5985): p. 1523-1528.
7. Worm, B., et al., Rebuilding Global Fisheries. Science, 2009. 325(5940): p. 578-585.
8. Halpern, B.S., et al., A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. Science, 2008. 319(5865): p. 948-952.
9. Brodie, J., et al., Terrestrial pollutant runoff to the Great Barrier Reef: An update of issues, priorities and management responses. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2012. 65(4): p. 81-100.
10. Barnes, D.K., et al., Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2009. 364(1526): p. 1985-1998.
11. Doney, S.C., The growing human footprint on coastal and open-ocean biogeochemistry. Science, 2010. 328(5985): p. 1512-1516.
12. Myers, R.A., Worm, Boris, Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities. Nature, 2003. 5(15).
13. Worm, B., et al., Global catches, exploitation rates, and rebuilding options for sharks. Marine Policy, 2013. 40(0): p. 194-204.
14. Department of the Environment, W., Heritage and the Arts. Review of the white shark recovery plan. 1998 [cited 2014 15.02.2014]; Available from: http://www.environment.gov.au/resource/recovery-plan-white-shark-carcharodon-carcharias.
15. Pauly, D., Anecdotes and the shifting baseline syndrome of fisheries. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 1995. 10(10): p. 430.
16. Knowlton, N. and J.B. Jackson, Shifting baselines, local impacts, and global change on coral reefs. PLoS biology, 2008. 6(2): p. e54.
17. Ruppert, J.L., et al., Caught in the middle: combined impacts of shark removal and coral loss on the fish communities of coral reefs. PLoS ONE, 2013. 8(9): p. e74648.
18. Myers, R.A., et al., Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean. Science, 2007. 315(5820): p. 1846-1850.
19. Babcock, R.C., et al., Changes in community structure in temperate marine reserves. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 1999. 189: p. 125-134.
20. Graham, M.H., Effects of local deforestation on the diversity and structure of southern California giant kelp forest food webs. Ecosystems, 2004. 7(4): p. 341-357.
21. Helfield, J.M. and R.J. Naiman, Effects of salmon-derived nitrogen on riparian forest growth and implications for stream productivity. Ecology, 2001. 82(9): p. 2403-2409.
22. Ripple, W.J., et al., Trophic cascades among wolves, elk and aspen on Yellowstone National Park’s northern range. Biological Conservation, 2001. 102(3): p. 227-234.
23. Hamady, L.L., et al., Vertebral Bomb Radiocarbon Suggests Extreme Longevity in White Sharks. PLoS ONE, 2014. 9(1): p. e84006.
24. Blower, D.C., et al., Population genetics of Australian white sharks reveals fine-scale spatial structure, transoceanic dispersal events and low effective population sizes. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2012. 455: p. 229-244.
25. Dulvy, N.K., et al., You can swim but you can't hide: the global status and conservation of oceanic pelagic sharks and rays. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 2008. 18(5): p. 459-482.
26. Bonfil, R., et al., Transoceanic migration, spatial dynamics, and population linkages of white sharks. Science, 2005. 310(5745): p. 100-103.
27. Bruce, B.D. and R.W. Bradford, Habitat use and spatial dynamics of juvenile white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, in eastern Australia. Global Perspectives on the Biology and Life History of the White Shark, 2012: p. 225-254.
28. Department of Fisheries, W.A. Extension of the shark monitoring network. 2013 [cited 2014 15.02.2014]; Available from: http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Education-and-Partnerships/Shark-Hazard/Shark%20research/Pages/Extension-of-the-shark-monitoring-network.aspx.
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30. Lewison, R.L., et al., Understanding impacts of fisheries bycatch on marine megafauna. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2004. 19(11): p. 598-604.
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33. Skomal, G., Evaluating the physiological and physical consequences of capture on post‐release survivorship in large pelagic fishes. Fisheries Management and Ecology, 2007. 14(2): p. 81-89.
34. Marsh, H., EVALUATING MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES AIMED AT REDUCING THE MORTALITY OF DUGONGS IN GILL AND MESH NETS IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF WORLD HERITAGE AREA. Marine Mammal Science, 2000. 16(3): p. 684-694.
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Our morning snorkel was at a site called coral garden and passengers got comfortable with their gear and enjoyed the fantastic visibility of at least 15 meters. Rex our skipper headed our vessel out through North passage to the back of Ningaloo Reef. Within a matter of moments there were Humpback whales surrounding the area and popping up everywhere. We also spotted directly in front of the vessel a sea snake heading towards us which we identified as an Olive Head sea snake.
Check out this photoset on Flickr.
Our first whale shark spotted measured 6.5 meters and was swimming fairly fast but our second shark was a smaller size measuring 3.5 meters and was swimming slower as it was passive feeding on the sub surface. The last shark we were able to swim with was a friendly 5 meter circling shark and passengers were able to sit fairly still in the water while the shark swam around everyone. Sandy was able to get important stereo video footage of the three whale sharks and I.D. shots. We headed back through North passage into the lagoon and had a nutritional lunch.
Passengers had the opportunity to have an afternoon snorkel and Sandy was able to get stereo video footage of a porite coral for Jess’s fish assemblage research.
Instead, we came across a big bait ball being preyed upon by tuna from below and sea birds from above. As we headed closer to the reef we could see a large animal breaching. As we got closer we realized it was a newborn humpback calf. The vessel continued heading South to look for whale sharks but again we came across humpback whales and not just a few. We encountered about half a dozen of whales, mainly males chasing a female. They were displaying various behavioural activities including tail slapping, breaching and spyhopping. Another behaviour we observed was loud vocalizations above and below the water, a display of aggression between the males.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Just as passengers and crew onboard were ecstatic about seeing this a sailfish in the distance began tail walking, continually breaching out of the water which is quite rare to see. Then we got the call from Rex to get ready as a whale shark had been spotted near the vessel. Our first whale shark was a good size reaching 9 meters but was swimming fairly fast. The second and third sharks measured 5.5 meters and 3 meters respectively. Both sharks circled continuously and were not moving fast. The last shark measured 7 meters and Jen was able to do a plankton tow after swimming with this shark to find out what it had been eating. We then headed the vessel back into the reef to have a yummy lunch and an afternoon snorkel. Jess, Sandy and Jackie were able to get footage of a further two coral bommie sites.
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