tiger sharks

Pregnant Tiger Shark Expedition 2021 is well underway!

It’s finally happening! After over a year of corona-related delays the Pregnant Tiger Shark Expedition is finally underway. We just finished our very first day of tagging and, if I may say so, we started off with a bang. After a full day of tagging, we caught a total of 15 sharks: 14 reef sharks and one lucky (or unlucky, depending on your perspective) female tiger shark.

But, before we continue, let’s do some introductions. Over the next few days various expedition members will be writing some posts to update you on how the expedition is going, where we are, what we are doing, and what we hope to accomplish. I get the dubious honour of going first, so let’s set the bar high.

My name is Roxanne-Liana Francisca, but everyone calls me Rox. I work for STINAPA Bonaire as a Wildlife and Marine Biologist. For this expedition I will be one of the people ensuring that the data we are collecting is properly entered, tagged, and stored. Remember, it’s not science if you don’t write it down!

As the name of the expedition implies, we are heading to the Saba Bank to hopefully catch and tag some pregnant tiger sharks. Tiger sharks are a highly migratory species and have been known to cover vast distances. One of the sharks tagged in 2016 by the St. Maarten Nature Foundation, also joining on the expedition, was first tagged and released in St. Maarten and then picked up by the satellite tag all the way in Trinidad. Hopefully through this expedition, and the data we will gather, we will get a better idea of the migratory patterns of these sharks, and where they give birth, enabling us to better protect them.

Our team is made up of 20 people. This includes members of nature management organizations from 5 of the Dutch Caribbean islands. We have with us Aruba National Parks Foundation (FPNA)STINAPA BonaireNature Foundation St. MaartenSt. Eustatius National Parks (STENAPA),the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF), as well as representatives of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA)University of GroningenArizona State University, and World Wide Fund for Nature – The Netherlands(WWF-NL) who facilitated the necessary funds to realize this expedition.

Keep following us on DCNA’s website,  Facebook (Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance), Instagram (dcnanature)  for daily updates!

 

Article published in the Special Edition BioNews: Tiger Shark Expedition

Date
2021
Data type
Media
Theme
Education and outreach
Research and monitoring
Geographic location
Saba
Saba bank

Expedition on the Saba Bank to Enhance Tiger Shark Protection

Starting August 1, 2021 a team of researchers will spend a week on the Saba Bank investigating the life-cycle of tiger sharks. Researchers will investigate the migration routes, where and when tiger sharks breed so they can protect them better within the Dutch Caribbean’s Yarari Marine Mammal and Shark Sanctuary as well as beyond. In this expedition members from the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF)Nature Foundation St. Maarten (NFSXM), St. Eustatius National Parks (STENAPA)STINAPA Bonaire, the Aruba National Parks Foundation (FPNA), the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) and World Wildlife Fund for Nature the Netherlands (WWF-NL) will participate.

© Sami Kattan

In 2016, the Saba Conservation Foundation, Nature Foundation St. Maarten, and Sharks for Kids  partnered together as part of DCNA’s Save our Sharks Project funded by the Dutch National Postcode Lottery. Since then, satellite tagging of tiger sharks has been conducted on the Saba Bank and around Sint Maarten. Through this research we now know that tiger sharks in Dutch waters travel throughout the Caribbean basin, with most of these tagged sharks being sexually mature females. During the upcoming expedition the researchers aim to not only tag and track more tiger sharks to further investigate the life cycle, but they will also measure if and how large the pups inside pregnant tiger sharks are. This will help to determine if the Saba Bank is in fact a breeding ground for tiger sharks, one of the main goals of the expedition.

Tiger Shark. © Jarrett Corke WWF-Canada

The other objective is to see where these transboundary sharks migrate to in order to better understand the importance of the Yarari Marine Mammal and Shark Sanctuary and protect other geographical areas. The Yarari Sanctuary was established on September 1, 2015 and aims to protect marine mammals, sharks, and rays throughout the waters of Bonaire, Saba, and since September 2018, St. Eustatius. Collaboration between not only the six Dutch Caribbean islands but countries across the wider Caribbean as a whole is necessary in order to protect and conserve these essential species and ecosystems. Therefore the Caribbean Shark Coalition was recently formed to collaborate better in the entire Greater Caribbean region.

Celebrated on July 28 each year, World Nature Conservation Day acknowledges that a healthy environment is the foundation for a stable and healthy society. This includes a healthy ocean which, undoubtedly, depends on sharks. Sharks are large top predators that serve a critical role in maintaining balance in the marine ecosystem. Sharks help keep their prey population healthy by eating the weak while also affecting their prey’s distribution. In healthy oceans, sharks help to maintain stable fish stocks and healthy coral reefs and seagrass beds, which is important for the fisheries and the economy of the islands.

The Tiger Shark research expedition is coordinated by the DCNA and generously funded by WWF-NL through the Biodiversity Funds and the Dutch National Postcode Lottery. For more information on the Pregnant Tiger Shark Expedition, follow the participating organizations on Facebook, Instagram or DCNA’s website(https://dcnanature.org/news/).

 

Article published in BioNews 45 and Special Edition BioNews: Tiger Shark Expedition

Date
2021
Data type
Media
Theme
Education and outreach
Research and monitoring
Geographic location
Saba
Saba bank
Author

Ground-breaking Shark Research Conducted in St. Maarten Waters

During the week of April 11, 2021, members from the Nature Foundation St. Maarten, the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA), the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF), and Beneath the Waves conducted multiple ‘scientific firsts’ as part of the “Shark Shakedown” project. The research expedition was a part of a wider research project into tiger sharks in the region funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-NL) through the Biodiversity Funds and the Dutch National Postcode Lottery. The researchers tagged eleven sharks, including for the first time a female pregnant tiger and endangered Caribbean reef shark in the Dutch Caribbean. The data will provide vital information for conservation strategies not only in St. Maarten, but for the wider Caribbean.

© Sami Kattan/Beneath the Waves

 

The expedition lasted five days in which three species of sharks were tagged, including tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier), Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharhinus perezi), and nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) all ranging from sub-adults to adults.

Participants received hands-on training with experts from Beneath the Waves in preparation for the upcoming expedition to the Saba Bank in August 2021. The goal of this upcoming expedition is to determine whether the Saba Bank is a breeding area for tiger sharks in the Eastern Caribbean. The high-definition ultrasound technology the team used was created by E. I. Medical Imaging and pioneered by collaborator Dr. James Sulikowski, of Arizona State University. This technology has successfully been used to identify maturity state and the stage of pregnancy in various shark species, a first for shark science in the region.

The scientists successfully confirmed early pregnancy stage in a large female tiger shark, as well as placed a satellite tag on the shark during the workup process. Using satellite tracking over the next few months, the scientists hope to confirm evidence of Sint Maarten being a breeding location for these globally threatened animals. In another shark tagging ‘first’, Beneath the Waves’ Chief Scientist, Dr. Austin Gallagher, placed the first camera tag on a tiger shark in the Dutch Caribbean. The team successfully recovered the camera package during the expedition, and the animal has already shown promising results regarding shark behavior in the region.

Both the satellite tag and camera tag have shown that these tiger sharks prefer to travel in the area between St. Maarten and St. Barths; however, these are only the first detections. No assumptions can be made yet regarding the movement of these animals.

The information gained from this research will provide a better understanding of the importance of both the status of sharks in Sint Maarten’s territorial waters and in the Yarari Sanctuary and the role these ecosystems play in the life-cycle of tiger sharks in the wider Caribbean region. Tiger sharks are currently categorized as Near-Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature while Caribbean reef sharks have very recently been upgraded to Endangered. Sharks play key roles in maintaining the balance within local and regional marine ecosystems and maintaining biodiversity and therefore their protection is crucial.

Follow the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance’s Facebook, Instagram (dcnanature) or DCNA’s website(https://dcnanature.org/news/) to learn more about the shark expedition and other nature news from the Dutch Caribbean.

*Disclaimer* Though we are still in the midst of a pandemic, the partners of this project have strived to ensure all participants were safe to work amongst each other and to continue the important work of nature conservation in the Dutch Caribbean.

For more information please contact the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance by email info@dcnanature.org or phone +599.717.5010.

 

 

Article published in BioNews 42

Date
2021
Data type
Media
Theme
Education and outreach
Research and monitoring
Geographic location
St. Maarten
Author

50 Tiger Shark Facts

Facts About Tiger Sharks

We are going to present before you some interesting facts about tiger sharks. It is one of the most feared sharks in the ocean. People are afraid of it. The name "tiger" also adds to that reputation of its being a dangerous animal. Let us learn some interesting info about it.

Date
2016
Data type
Other resources
Theme
Education and outreach
Research and monitoring