|
|
|
  |
The
sharks' census
This will be the fifth year that MedSharks
is conducting a census of the local shark
population. We've spent
long hours in the water to learn to recognise each one: a
strangely shaped fin, a spot on the body,
the deformed jaw... these sometimes very subtle
differences are the Identity Cards of
“GoldenDot”, “Scarface” and “Twisted mouth” and of the scores of animals covered by
our database. In 2004
“GoldenDot”, “Hookedfin” and “Bigbelly”
were back in 2004 for
the third year in a row. Sharks do therefore return every May in the same bay.
Will they be back this
spring as well? And... where do they spend
the rest of the year? |
 |
Satellite
tracking
Sandbar sharks are famous for their very
long
migrations, of up to 3700 km. We
will follow them in their travels through
the “pop-up
tags” a.k.a. "PATs", which are
some extremely sophisticated instruments
that will record the daily position of the
animal and will therefore reveal their
migration routes through the Mediterranean
sea.
It is a state of the art technology: after a few months the tags will automatically leave the animal, surface offshore and immediately send all the data to a satellite. This information will bounce back to Earth and the track of the shark will finally be revealed on the screen of the researchers’ computers.
PAT tags are extremely delicate, and they
couln't be anything else since they are
waterproof computers which can resist
crushing pressures up to 100 times stronger
than what we feel; they can record the
dimmest of lights and can "talk"
to satellites in space! And they are just as
expensive as you'd think they would be -
around 4000 US dollars each, tax included.
That doesn't make them perfect: but they are
the only instuments that can track and
reveal the migrations of animals that swim
under the waves, hidden from view. |
 |
There
are many unknowns as this technology has only been used for the study of marine species for a few
years. Research on the great white in South Africa and California and of the lemon shark in the Bahamas have been repeatedly hampered by malfunctions or even loss of the
probes. Ramon Bonfil, a well-known
shark researcher working with the World
Conservation Society, will join us in
Turkey. He is an expert in the use of PAT
tags, which he has used to track the
movements of white sharks in South Africa
and New Zealand. |
 |
We
will collect DNA samples, so as to
create a genetic bank of the Mediterranean
sandbar shark. Genetic analysis of this
species has never been attempted in the Med.
We will therefore need many samples in order
to give a genetic "first and last name"
to these animals; it will be interesting
also to collect samples coming from other
areas of the Mediterranean sea and compare
them all with samples from the Atlantic
ocean. We could then find out wether the
sharks that swim in this bay come from
all over the Med or from nearby waters or
perhaps even from the Atlantic ocean. |
 |
It
is very likely - since there are
so many gravid females and as we've
witnessed the birth of three baby sharks in
2004 - that this bay could be a “nursery
area”, a sort of a "delivery
room" and kindergarten for sandbar
sharks, the only such bay known in the
Mediterranean sea. We will have the
definitive proof by finding other babies. It
will not be easy. Other nursery areas have
been defined as such by catching babies in
the nets, killing many in the process. There
are so few sharks around that we cannot risk
that, so we will try to find them visually.
It is vital to positively identify the bay
as a nursery area as these are critical
habitats for the survival of a species. MedSharks
works together with local authorities and
diving centers so that people have the least
impact possible on mothers and newborns in
such a delicate phase in their existence. |
 |
Our
study will contribute to the assessment of
the Mediterranean sandbar shark population
within the
Global
Shark Assessment project. The aim of
this project, coordinated by professor Myers,
is to assess how global shark populations have changed since the beginning of industrial scale fishing, and to make predictions about how these populations will respond to global climate change and to different methods of
fishing.
|
 |
The
Cooperative Shark Tagging Program is
part of continuing research directed
to the study of the biology of large sharks
started in 1962. It is coordinated by the NMFS.
As in the picture on the left, sharks are
tagged with a plastic capsule containig a
number and a legend with return istructions
printed in English, Spanish, French,
Japanese and Norwegian tag. Data from
tagging programs like this provide valuable
information on migration and the extent of
fish movements. The need for international
cooperation in such work is underscored by
the fact that many shark species have wide
ranging distributions, frequently traverse
national boundaries and are exploited by
multinational fisheries.
The tagging of sharks
provides information on stock identity,
movements and migration, abundance, age and
growth, mortality, behaviour.
We are the only ones
tagging sandbar sharks in the Mediterranean
sea. If a shark with such a tag should ever
come up in a net (and of course we hope it
won't) we would have an idea of where "our"sharks
go once they go out of this bay. This would
only give us the final leg of the journey,
not its route: to "shadow" the
shark on its migrations PAT tags are needed,
as they record the animal's position day
after day.
|
|
education and
dissemination
|
 |
MedSharks
is also very active in education, to promote
the conservation of sharks in the
Mediterranean sea. We are convinced that
people can play a foundamental role in the
protection of the marine environment - but
they must be correctly informed. That is
why we give emphasis to "popularization"
of our research and its results. Our goal is to
help correct the "image" of
sharks, though interesting and
scientifically accurate communication.
Like every year, during
the campaign we will have an online,
interactive diary called blog,
which we will strive to update day by day.
Read it every day! Here the 2004 diary
(Engish
version).
|
 |
Sponsors
MedSharks is a self-financed
research with contributions from private
sponsors. Main sponsor for year 2005 is the Project
Aware Foundation, whose aim is to
defend the underwater environment and
educate the public to respect the
environment. Technical sponsors are World
Communication Center , provider of
satellite communication, and Nimar
housings. |
 |
YOU
can help! The
MedSharks research is financed exclusively
through sponsorships, donations and
memberships of the MedSharks Association.
With your help we have already...
catalogued about 100 sharks - filmed the
birth of a shark - tagged half a dozen
sharks - bought satellite tags - informed
millions of people on the presence and
behaviour of sharks in the Mediterraneans
sea. YOU can help too: become
a member of the MedSharks Association and
give your contriution to the research! |
|
The
sharks' 
The
The
online 
What
do sharks do 
Will
we see other 
Join
the MedSharks