White Shark Tagging Video Chatham

Chatham - While the shark sightings keep rolling in, it's not clear exactly how many great white sharks are out there, officials have said, because sharks could be sighted more than once. Williams said the Division of Marine Fisheries doesn't count the number of sightings because "that's just not valuable data."

Complete story.

Tagging Whales - Most Excellent Video

Southern Fried Science blog covers MISHAP in Antarctica and delivers this amazing video. Nice to see cool professionals at work, without the obligatory reality television crew in tow.

White Sharks In Tonga? Update

As we covered last week three "archival pop up tags" have begun transmitting in the waters of Tonga from a group of 6 great whites tagged off of New Zealand's Chatham Islands.

Yesterday one of the tags was recovered allowing researchers a deeper look into the data stored on that tag. To say this latest tracking data is "epic" is an understatement. It opens a whole new chapter into the migratory habits of the worlds foremost oceanic predator:

One of three electronic transponders so far discarded near Tonga by great white sharks tagged at the Chatham Islands has been recovered from the Ha'ateiho Reef.

Details of the sharks that have travelled to Tonga from the Chathams are:

1. 4m long male tagged at Star Keys, 14 April 2008, pop-up location Ha'ateiho Beach, Tongatapu;

2. 4.5m long male tagged at Star Keys, 15 April 2008, pop-up location c. 50 km northwest of Tongatapu;

3. 4.5m long female tagged at Te Awapatiki, 19 April 2008, pop-up location c. 135 km south of Eua. (Clinton Duffy, lead investigator, said that this shark may have visited Pelorus Reef but the tag actually started transmitting over deep water east of the reef, so it could have visited any of the sea mounts in that area).

"This is the first time we have tracked great whites to the waters of Tonga. Previously we have had great white sharks tagged at the Chathams travel to New Caledonia and Vanuatu".

White Shark Cafe-SOFA-White Shark Cafe...

After what has seemed like a decade of tagging and tracking the Marine Conservation Science Institute has published data from it's multi-year white shark study at Isla Guadalupe.

Pete Thomas from the L.A Times got the scoop.

As a side note the battle between TOPP's and the Marine Conservation Science Institute for the naming rights to the mysterious terminus point these animals gather at each season has heated up with MCSI's addition "SOFA" (Shared Offshore Foraging Area).

We'll let you decide which name will stick:

1. MCSI-"SOFA"

2. TOPP-"White Shark Cafe"

Editors Note: We like both.

Record year for white shark tagging 2008

Your 401K may have tanked but for the understanding of Great whites and their migratory habits, it's been a great year:

Another tagged New Zealand great white shark has migrated to the Great Barrier Reef off Australia – 1 of nine sharks to be satellite tagged this year.

The 3.5 metre shark, nicknamed ‘Thomas,’ was tagged with a popup archival satellite tag. The tag records information on light levels (from which approximate daily latitude and longitude can be estimated) as well as water depth and temperature so that the shark’s movements can be tracked.

After a predetermined time (six months for this shark) the tag pops off the shark, floats to the surface and transmits the data to a satellite that emails the information back.

‘Thomas’ was tagged by Department of Conservation (DOC) scientist, Clinton Duffy, off Ruapuke Island in Foveaux Strait, in February. The satellite tag popped up at Swain Reefs, off Rockhampton, late in August.

"This is only 100 kilometres from where another tag popped up last year from a shark tagged at Stewart Island after having travelled over 3000 kilometres," says Mr Duffy.

Isla Guadalupe Research-Mauricio Hoyos

We just got off the phone with white shark researcher Maurico Hoyos who's looking forward to his final tagging and tracking season at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico.

This project has been an exciting adventure for us and for Maurico-simply put this was the first time any cross border shark eco tour/research effort has ever been attempted in Mexico.

It has been the standing policy of Shark Diver to include shark research with operations wherever we could. 8 years ago this policy was considered by many within the community to be a lost leader, or at worst a complete waste of time.

Time, it seems, was all it took to show proof of concept. In the end we are obligated as eco tour operations to know more about the animals we make a living from. Research knowledge is key- with that comes our credibility.

As commercial shark diving operators we do not have "any rights" to make a living from white sharks. It's a gift, and payback comes in the form of adding to the understanding of these animals. You have to support the resource with realistic and yearly efforts. Otherwise these animals become little more than Biological ATM Machines.

If you're interested in providing material support for Maurico's 2008 field season contact him directly at:

Mauricio Hoyos <amuakua@gmail.com

Tagged white shark moves inland?

A west coast white shark pup tagged and released earlier this year has been tracked into the Sea of Cortez.

As recent data sets would suggest the tag is now moving inland at a high rate of speed. Researchers say this is just preliminary data and that the shark is probably still in the water and doing fine.

Or...the tag is currently on the antenna of a fisherman's truck driving back to the coast. (click image for larger view)

Full news report here. As always we'll keep you updated. On an amusing side note this animal went from being a US citizen to a Mexican national in less than three weeks.

NBC Series-Shark Taggers Part 2

Ohhh Boy!

NBC's latest reality based show on primetime, not Discovery, called Shark Taggers. For those of you who missed the synopsis from earlier on in the week here it is again:

Lost in all the excitement over the mysterious The Office spinoff (which is, for now, titled The Office Spinoff) were two equally tantalizing additions to NBC’s 2008–2009 lineup, announced earlier this week: America’s Toughest Jobs and Shark Taggers, both from producer Thom Beers and his Original Productions.

You may know Beers as the man who’s building a mini-empire based on dangerous-job reality shows, such as Deadliest Catch (about the perils of deep-sea fishing) on Discovery and Ice Road Truckers (about the perils of driving trucks on icy roads) on the History Channel. Back in December, Beers signed an interesting deal with NBC during the writers' strike, which essentially guaranteed him two one-hour blocks of programming a week.

And now he’s delivered: America’s Toughest Jobs will be like Deadliest Catch: The Home Game, in which twelve regular Americans compete while performing the world’s most dangerous occupations, from oil-drilling to logging. Shark Taggers is about, well, people who tag sharks; specifically, marine biologists studying shark attacks (cool!) and migration patterns (okay!). We’re not sure this is actually a dangerous job, but tagging sharks certainly sounds dangerous. And Beers has an undeniable talent for wringing maximum drama from America’s occupations, as evidenced by Lobster Wars, a series in production for Discovery about lobster-fishing off the coast of New England, and Verminators (also for Discovery), which follows an “elite team of pest busters to the front lines of their never-ending battle against infestations of all kinds.”

Personally, we’ll be rooting for all these shows, especially because, if Shark Taggers is a hit, it should clear the way (Brushcutters! Coming in 2010 from NBC!) for future Beers-NBC collaborations, such as Hornet-Nest Jostlers (“nature’s deadliest buzz”); Lawn Jockeys (“tackling America’s unsightliest yards — while riding just inches above three spinning blades of death”); and Grizzly-Bear Barbers (Short, back and sides? Or death?). —Adam Sternbergh

O.K Adam, we'll invite you to Isla Guadalupe to spend a night with the local fishermen in the "Love Shack" then you can tell us how dangerous shark tagging really is!

White Sharks Vacation Desination? Mexico!

It would seem that vacation planning to Mexico is not just limited to Canadians, Europeans and Americans...white sharks love the sun too. Image hat tip DBtechno

Recently released white shark pup from the Monterey Bay Aquarium has made it all the way down the coast to Baja in record time, just six weeks. A similar track was made by a previously released white shark-with the tracking tag coming off the animals side prior to entering the Sea of Cortez.

(03-22) Chronicle -- One of California's best wildlife stories of the year, tracking the coastal adventures of a young great white shark, took a stunning twist in the past week.

The shark was released in February from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and in six weeks has already swum past the southern tip of Baja at Cabo San Lucas and is heading south to the Mexican mainland. That is a distance of roughly 1,200 miles covered in 44 days, according to electronic reports, an average of nearly 27 miles per day - and that's if the shark is swimming in a straight line, an unlikely event. That is the fastest a shark has been documented migrating south from Monterey to Baja, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

This past winter, more than 650,000 people saw the young great white shark during its 162-day stay at the aquarium.

Another twist is that the public can track the shark's position online, where its movements are updated and mapped. Check it out at: las.pfeg.noaa.gov/TOPP_recent/index.html.

Saga of Goldilox: A great white shark tagged by scientists and named "Goldilox" has swum 5,441 miles and is now roaming off, yep, San Francisco, likely looking for something to take a bite out of. They get hungry, you know. Check it out at topp.or

Isla Guadalupe Shark Science

Mauricio Hoyos, CICIMAR's white shark researcher at Isla Guadalupe, has one of the world's toughest jobs.

As the very first Mexican lead white shark tagging project at the island, his work will be the foundation of other projects to come. Already new, much broader, projects have been suggested with a strong chance of one starting in the fall of 2008.

This will be Maurico's final season at the island before he publishes his paper on the local movement patterns of gws.

From his groundbreaking work we discovered that gws feed almost exclusively on the endemic Guadalupe Fur Seal during the early morning and sunset hours.

It's not easy camping on this ancient volcanic island month after month, but with determination and a whole lot of help from some friends, he has become a local legend out there: