JUNIOR UPDATE
June 2011
We are still getting great data from Junior, the first shark tagged in the Farallon Islands. We got another message from him today. This map shows his 2009/2010 offshore migration in yellow and the 2010/2011 offshore migration in red. He is currently about 1400 miles from the Farallones, and has traveled over 11,000 miles since he was tagged! We will watch for him to start heading back to central California soon. Read More
For more up to date tracking information on Junior and other tagged sharks please check our Facebook page.
Junior Update
2 May 2011
Junior made a very unusual winter sojourn to the coast of California, a time of year when we would expect him to be in the Shared Offshore Foraging Area, halfway between the mainland and Hawaii. The satellite tag positions we received showed him cruising the coast south of Point Sur. Although we never detected him closer than 15 nautical miles from the coast, our tracking technology does not allow us to know where he is at all times. He was very near the elephant seal beach at Piedras Blancas and may have been lurking just offshore of that region at some point during this trip. For a brief time it looked like he was going to visit the Channel Islands and we were looking forward to mounting an expedition in an attempt to locate and photograph his current condition. Junior didn’t allow us this chance, since he soon turned around and headed back to sea in the direction of the SOFA. There is no way for us to know whether we just witnessed a normal, but extremely rare, adult white shark winter visit to California, or if this behavior is a result of a weakened condition documented by the TOPP lab last October.
A video was recently released by NOAA showing a very large bite marks on the side of Junior’s head, wounds that were inflicted by another great white shark while Junior was off Central California this past fall (click here to visit the NOAA website and view the video). Although the flesh wounds should be healed by now, the damage sustained to the articulation of the jaw itself is alarming and perhaps life threatening. A few days ago we joined Guy Harvey, Jim Abernethy and Wyland at the Newport Film Festival for the premiere of their excellent film This Is Your Ocean: Sharks; during the film a tiger shark with a similar misshapen jaw can be briefly seen…this shark appeared to be otherwise very healthy, so we are holding out hope for Junior’s full recovery.
These data are the property of MCSI and may not be reproduced or used without permission.
JUNIOR’S LATEST JOURNEY
18 April 2011
The movement pattern of the first male adult white shark tagged during our Farallon Island’s tagging expedition (as featured in the season 2 premier of Shark Men) has recently taken an unusual turn. This shark, named Junior, underwent a normal migration to offshore foraging ground during the winter of 2009-2010, after which he returned to the Farallon Islands in the summer/fall of 2010. This winter Junior again made his offshore migration, but in recent days he has done something we have never seen before, he began travelling east and has now gotten within 80 nautical miles of the California coast. This would not be unusual had it happened in the summer, but such a return to the coast in the winter has not been observed before. Whether this is a newly discovered white shark behavior or a consequence of a serious injury that was documented by TOPP researchers is not known. We will keep watching Junior’s migration pattern, looking for clues to this new situation.
Update on Status of Shark Tagged in the Farallon Islands
10 April 2011
In October of 2009 the MCSI white shark research program captured, restrained and satellite tagged two male white sharks at Southeast Farallon Island, off the coast of San Francisco. We made many mistakes in the capture of the first shark, named Junior, resulting in his being hooked in the throat. It’s the type of accident that we had worked hard to avoid, but there was confusion regarding new methods devised to comply with all of our permit requirements. Despite the potential loss of a very expensive tag, Dr. Michael Domeier knew that the only way to determine the fate of the shark was to place the satellite tag on the dorsal fin and get it back into the water as fast as possible; the tag would tell us if the shark survived.
Junior was released with a portion of the hook still lodged in the back of the throat. The eye of the hook was removed so that the hook could fall out and the barb acted to prevent the hook from sliding into the peritoneal cavity. When lowered back into the water, this shark vigorously swam away. The incident was immediately reported to the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent. Our permit was temporarily suspended until we could meet with the Sanctuary staff to review the incident, but within days the permit was reinstated and we successfully tagged a second shark without complications.
Track for Junior
Over the next 17 months this shark traveled out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, spending 8 months offshore and returned to central California and then traveled offshore again, with the last position, transmitted on 10 April 2011, placing him half way between Hawaii and the mainland. This shark has traveled over 7000 miles since tagging, something that would be impossible if it had not been able to shed the remaining hook and resume feeding. Unfortunately there has been much false information regarding this incident, the technology and the research goals.
The practice of physically attaching a satellite linked radio transmitting (SLRT; also known as SPOT) tag to the dorsal fin of sharks is widespread, but has generated controversy when applied to white sharks. A 2010 publication by Heupel and Simpfendorfer in the journal Conservation Biology discusses the importance of scientific data for the management and protection of sharks and also discusses the impact of public perception and emotions, which sometimes define the intrinsic value of one species over another, and how this has the potential to impede scientific judgment and conservation efforts. For the white shark, in some circles, this seems to be the case. The capture of any wild fish, whether it is a shark, bluefin tuna or guppy inherently involves risk. MCSI has carefully weighed these risks and devised methods to minimize them while also advancing the understanding of this species to new levels. These new discoveries will prove to be invaluable for the long-term management and protection of white sharks. Criticisms to the methods are not without merit, but focus on the science and conservation efforts have been largely ignored.
White sharks are not listed as endangered species, but are considered vulnerable. Although these sharks are protected at their coastal aggregation sites, it is known that they travel over 1500 miles offshore each year spending over half the year in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and it is important that we understand all phases of their life history in order to protect them in the full range of their habitat. The adult females who come in to shore to give birth and the juveniles are the most vulnerable stages of the species as they may encounter fishing nets along the coasts of Mexico and the US. Where the females go when they are pregnant and where they go to give birth are questions that can only be answered using this technology and are crucial for the management of these sharks.
This research has been made public on the series Shark Men on the National Geographic Channel, but it is important to understand that this white shark research program is not a made-for-TV project. We have been researching white sharks for over a decade and have placed about 80 popup satellite tags on adults at Guadalupe Island. Although popup tags do not require the shark to be captured and restrained, they can only provide tracking data for 9-12 months. Our early work revealed that adult female white sharks disappear from adult aggregation sites for 2 years leaving us with a data gap of a year or more. Despite what you may read elsewhere, physically attaching a SLRT tag to the dorsal fin of a white shark is the only way to accomplish multi-year tracks. Although there were risks involved in the capture of such large sharks, Dr. Domeier spent years preparing so that this risk would be minimized. He had permits in hand to conduct this work before ever meeting Chris Fischer, the owner of the research vessel ultimately used for this work. Dr. Domeier was designing a lift system he could use from a small boat, but Chris’ ship had an immediate solution to the problem of lifting the sharks from the water. Dr. Domeier asked if Chris would make his ship available for the capture of white sharks and Chris agreed, under the condition that he be allowed to film the research. Given this opportunity, Dr. Domeier allowed a crew to film his work for the first time. Although we had the opportunity to continue to make television, MCSI is no longer involved in the National Geographic series. Television is not the driving force behind this research; it is the sharks themselves and the research results that are important.
There are no perfect solutions when studying marine fish. Unlike terrestrial animals, fish can rarely be observed long enough to make meaningful conclusions regarding behavior, and radio signals cannot penetrate water making them exceptionally difficult to track. Most marine fish research requires the lethal sampling of many individuals to determine life history characteristics, but in the case of white sharks this is simply unacceptable. All researchers are working towards the same end: a better understanding of the species so that we may identify vulnerable stages of its life history and take steps to protect them. Multi-year tracks are necessary to make sense of DNA results and to learn what habitats these sharks are using to feed, reproduce, and give birth. The SLRT tagging we have conducted has been very successful and the data generated is currently going to press. Dr. Domeier has a long history of pushing tag manufacturers to help advance the technologies available to us and we will continue to look for new means of addressing some of the concerns surrounding the use of SLRT tags; there are always things that we can do better.
We are in the process of publishing exciting discoveries from this research and also hope to soon have a portal for the public to track our sharks in near real time…so stay tuned.
Sept. 3, 2010 The two sharks tagged with SPOT tags at the Farallon Islands by MCSI in the fall of 2009 have now been successfully tracked out into the middle of the Pacific Ocean and back to central California. One of the sharks returned July 26 and the other Aug 4. The first shark was offshore 225 days, traveling approximately 4,000 miles, and the second shark was offshore for 269 days covering 3,000 miles. This information was printed in an online article in the Marin Independent Journal September 3, 2010. For more information on our white shark research program click here.
This map shows migration data over the last two years for all sexually mature male white sharks tagged by MCSI at Guadalupe Island, Mexico and the Farallon Islands off Central California. These are from white sharks that are tagged using SPOT tags which give real time tracking data for up to 6 years. Eastern Pacific white sharks spend fall and winter at coastal aggregation sites at Guadalupe Island or central California and spring and summer in the middle of the Pacific Ocean traveling as far as the Hawaiian Islands.
We are continuing to collect real time tracking data on our tagged sharks. The females tracks are beginning to shed light on the mystery of where they go when they are pregnant and where they go to give birth. We will know more this spring and be able to release this exciting data!
Our white shark tagging and tracking study was recently featured in the shark edition of the online surf magazine Wave Lines (to view click here).
The data from these tagged sharks will help answer questions regarding which areas of the offshore region the sharks utilize and why they might be migrating to the middle of the ocean every year. It will also help us understand where they are mating, where the pregnant females go during their multi-year migration cycle, and where they go to give birth. All of this information is important in protecting these sharks.
We are in the process of publishing exciting discoveries from this research and also hope to soon have a portal for the public to track our sharks in near real time…so stay tuned.
These data are the property of MCSI and may not be reproduced or used without permission.
For more information on our comprehensive white shark research program click here.
SPOT tagged white shark photographed at Guadalupe Island 1 year after tagging
