SSACN - Tagsharks

Monitoring Programme Fails to Tag any Great Whites

sharkman — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:51:16 +0000

A two month-long program to capture and track sharks has wrapped up in south-west Western Australia, despite failing to tag a single great white.

The shark monitoring project is part of a two-year State Government program aimed at understanding the movements of the elusive great white.

The Department of Fisheries’ Mike Burgess says no great whites were tagged because they could not be found.

"White sharks are an apex predator, so the natural abundance in the environment is already very low," he said.

"We believe that the sharks are pretty transient along our coastline, so we have to rely on a bit of luck, as well as trying to locate some areas that might prove more useful or successful than others."

The department says it was still a useful exercise, as officers were able to practise capturing and tagging other species of sharks.

The article can be found here.

Experts estimate there are only around 3,500 Great White Sharks left in our Oceans, see this article: Great White Sharks are now more endangered than Tigers.

Manta Rays Tracked Using Satellite Tags

sharkman — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:08:42 +0000

Very little is known about giant manta rays, the world’s largest of the ray species reaching up to 25 feet wide. Now, in the first study using satellite tracking of the creatures, scientists have teased out a few secrets, including that the beasts travel a lot.

The new study tracked six manta rays — four females, one male and a juvenile (undetermined sex) — for two months off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

"The satellite tag data revealed that some of the rays traveled more than 1,100 kilometers (621 miles) during the study period," study team member Matthew Witt, of the University of Exeter’s Environment and Sustainability Institute, said in a statement. "The rays spent most of their time traversing coastal areas plentiful in zooplankton and fish eggs from spawning events."

Like baleen whales and whale sharks, manta rays (Manta birostris) are filter feeders that swim through the water with mouths agape collecting huge gulps of plankton-filled water; they use small finger-like structures called gill rakers in their mouths to filter out the tiny zooplankton.

The research team also found the rays, closely related to sharks, spent nearly all their time within 200 miles of the coast. (Photos: Mysterious Whale Sharks)

"Studies such as this one are critical in developing effective management of manta rays, which appear to be declining worldwide," said Howard Rosenbaum, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Ocean Giant Program.

The full article can be found here.

An article detailing on-going electronic tagging work around Scotland (looking at Common Skate movements) can be found here – http://www.tagsharks.com/common-skate-acoustic-tagging-project-in-the-sound-of-jura

What did it weigh ?

sharkman — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:19:47 +0000

Anglers like to have a idea of the weight of a good fish, especially if it appears to be a personal best or of specimen size, but of course most also realise the need to minimise any damage to the fish through keeping it out of the water too long.

Weighing fish by measuring them helps minimize any potential harm to the fish.

To help address this need we have developed a number of alternatives which will not only enable you to ‘weigh’ a particular fish but also gain an insight as to how weight varies by species.

There are a number of interactive graphs presenting weight for length in cms/lbs and cms/kilos for tope, spurdog, smoothhound and a number of rays along with printable charts for these and common skate.

Although there is no doubt that fish can have different weights for the same length dependent on several factors – whether they are gravid, post spawning, sick or healthy, have good access to food-stocks etc., weight estimation based on a fish’s length offers a credible alternative – unlike the spring balances typically in use by anglers, any in-accuracies there may be will be the same for everyone.

The graphs and charts are based on 1000′s of observations made by a variety of scientific bodies over the past three decades or so, however, if anyone has any historic accurate records of weight / length for any species, they could be very useful in refining the models – just use the ‘Contact Us’ page.

Manx Shark Tagging Project Receives Last Minute Funding

sharkman — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:29:41 +0000

Marine scientists in the Isle of Man have received "last-minute" sponsorship for basking shark research.

The funding has come from both the Manx government and local finance company, Tower Insurance.

It will go towards a satellite tagging programme, which provides data about shark migration and feeding habits.

Jackie Hall from Manx Basking Shark Watch (MBSW) said the last-minute funding means two more sharks can be tagged and monitored in 2012.

She added: "When we started, no-one knew the behaviours or the understanding for the behaviours and patterns we are seeing.

"We, as a small group of volunteers, have answered a lot of those key questions in the last few years.”

"We operate on a shoe-string but we simply can’t afford the tags unless people sponsor them."

MBSW has successfully tagged and tracked 18 basking sharks since 2007.

The tags, which cost about £4,000 each, are attached to the shark’s dorsal fin and detach themselves after 226 days, during which they stream data to a satellite.

This summer the MBSW will be able to tag two sharks.

The full article is available here.

Aim to improve smoothhound knowledge through collaboration

sharkman — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:17:50 +0000

Recent discussions between SSACN and Sportvisserij Nederland (Royal Dutch Angling Association) highlighted the fact that there is an apparent northern migration of smoothhound – increasing numbers of the species being caught each year.

Whether the increased numbers are due to decreased competition for food as cod stocks have declined, decreased commercial pressure reducing the numbers taken as bycatch or northern waters getting warmer, is a matter for detailed research.

During the discussions it soon became apparent that as both parties had tagging programmes, that by working together in a collaborative manner we may be able to more effectively gather data on the make up of the stocks and their migration patterns.

As part of their programme, Sportvisserij Nederland will be running an Event in mid-August and as part of the collaboration they will be adopting the Sharkatag name for it – further details when they become available.

One of the previously tagged Dutch smoothhounds was recaptured in the Bay of Biscay, it will be interesting to see if a smoothhound tagged off Scotland is subsequently recaptured off Holland, or vice-versa.

NB :: Dr Ed Farrell put together a some good introductory information on smoothhounds which can be found here.

Illegal trader had 517 shark jaws in his house

sharkman — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:48:15 +0000

From news.scotsman.com

Steven Paterson, 48, became the first person in Scotland to be convicted of trading parts of endangered species.

The court was told that Paterson, a father of two, was caught after officials from the UK Border Agency came across his website.

Police then searched his home in Glenrothes, Fife, where they found hundreds of specimens including 517 shark jaws, 78 teeth, 16 skulls and a skin, pelt and claws.

Shona McJannett, prosecuting, said Paterson did not have a trading licence, but his site offered a number of items for sale.

Warm water marine species moving northwards

sharkman — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:04:54 +0000

Exotic warm water marine species such as anchovy, bluefin tuna, stingray, and thresher shark are spreading northwards into British coastal waters, where average sea temperatures are now moving closer to the warmer conditions of southern Europe. (See this article from September 2011 detailing the sighting of a Thresher Shark near the Isle of Mann in the Irish Sea: http://www.tagsharks.com/thresher-shark-sighting-near-the-isle-of-man).

A new study by marine scientists discloses that many species, some better known to holidaymakers in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands, are now increasingly commonly seen in the seas off Cornwall, Devon, Hampshire and Sussex, providing vivid evidence that climate change is already changing the natural environment.

Off south-west England, fishermen and biologists see bluefin tuna, triggerfish, stingrays, thresher sharks and ocean sunfish in greater numbers. Off the south coast, and in some cases the North Sea, anchovies, red mullet, sea bass and John Dory are now being caught in commercial quantities as these warm water species shift north.

In the North Sea, more trawlers are now fishing for increasingly abundant squid, another staple of Mediterranean restaurants, than are targeting traditional species such as cod and haddock.

But the marine climate change impacts partnership (MCCIP) report, published by UK and Scottish government ministers, warns that there are serious and potentially dangerous challenges for native species and for the fishing industry, as they struggle to adapt and ward off threats from invasive species and unusual diseases.

"The truth is that climate change is having a big impact on distribution of fish stocks and this is going to present some significant challenges for policymakers, fisheries managers and for fishing industry itself," said Richard Benyon, the UK minister for the marine environment.

Benyon told the Guardian that a "whole-seas approach" was now needed. "If fish aren’t in certain parts of the sea, but are going to be elsewhere, we need to have fisheries management policies that will make sure that they are sustainable, wherever they are. We realise these are fast-moving ecosystems and we have to be smarter."

The study, a "report card" on the latest scientific data and its implications, says trawlers will have to travel far further north within 20 years to catch Britain’s favourite species, the cod, as they follow cold waters northwards, while warmer waters threaten to devastate commercial mussel fisheries.

Conflicts between British and foreign fleets could become more common in future, it added. A major row over control of north-east Atlantic mackerel stocks between the European Union and the Faroese and Icelandic governments could be a sign of things to come both in European waters and around the world.

Fleets from France and Spain are now expected to head into the Channel, chasing anchovies, which have been disappearing from the Bay of Biscay, to the dismay of south coast fishermen.

This could also have implications on marine conservation using spatial measures: in the Baltic Sea, spawning cod had been deserting a closure area at Bornholm that was originally set up to protect them.

To read the full article, follow this link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/08/warm-water-species-speading-northwards

Seizure of almost 8 tons of Shark Fins in Brazil

sharkman — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:43:11 +0000

On 04/05/12, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) seized about 7,7 tons of dried shark fins in Belém.

The shark fins, which were intended to be exported to China, were found during an inspection by IBAMA officers at a fish processing company in the Tapana Industrial District. The exporter failed to provide documents proving the sale or whereabouts of the shark carcasses. So it can be assumed that the fins are a product of illegal shark finning.

According to the agency, the company has repeatedly been fined several times before for various violations – to the tune of R$ 1 million+ in fines since 2007.

Source and Photo Credit: IBAMA and folha.com

Sleeper sharks in Loch Ness

sharkman — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:55:37 +0000

Legend has it that large animals or monsters are thought to live in Loch Ness, but Bruce Wright of Alaska Despatch suggests that evidence has been mounting that the Loch Ness monster may, in fact, be a sleeper shark.

According to his recent article, the idea of sharks possibly using Loch Ness is not new, it’s long been one of the hypotheses explaining the Loch Ness Monster, but until now, nobody has suggested sleeper sharks, perhaps because they’re secretive and so rarely seen though those that are, are often consistent with descriptions of the shape and colours of sleeper sharks.

Sleeper sharks can exceed 20 feet and weigh upwards of 4 tons and may use rivers and lakes to find food – Salmon and lots of other prey species have been found in sleeper sharks’ stomachs and there are plenty of salmon and other fish in Loch Ness.

26 species of Scottish shark protected

sharkman — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:17:50 +0000

Great news for Scotland’s sharks.

Tope, as the commercial sector are now prohibited from catching them, join common skate and porbeagle in having the highest levels of protection in Scottish waters.

In a previous post we reported that the Scottish Government was looking to increase the protection of 26 species of Scottish sharks.

The necessary Statutory Instrument (SI) has now been created and comes into force today. It means vulnerable species of sharks, skates and rays in Scottish waters will have protection over and above that under EU legislation; hopefully this will encourage the EU to step up to the mark and extend similar protection for them in all European waters.

In a press release, Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said : “With a landing ban across both commercial and recreational fisheries, we can help support stock recovery for vulnerable shark, skate and ray species. This legislation builds on Scotland’s leading protection measures for sharks – including our proactive decision in 2009 to strengthen the ban on barbaric shark finning.”

Analysis of the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme (SSTP) data has shown that sea angling has minimal impact on stocks – the importance of that and the contributions of all the volunteers was recognised by Mr Lochhead :

“Recreational anglers will still be permitted to fish using the ‘catch and release’ method, while the tagging programme undertaken by anglers can continue. This important initiative is providing invaluable data about sharks in Scottish waters and will help inform policies about how best we can protect these stocks in the future”

Sea anglers were not the cause of stock depletion and are the ones actually doing the research so it seems only fair that they should be allowed to continue to enjoy their sport.

Sea angling attracts over 110,000 participants and contributes around £150 million/yr to the Scottish economy; other management solutions could have had very serious implications for anglers and all those businesses and coastal economies reliant on it.

There is still a lot more to be learnt about the stock dynamics and migratory patterns of Scotland’s inshore sharks; we will continue to gather information through the SSTP and lobby for inclusion in fisheries management to help ensure the future of sea angling in Scotland.