Two Tiger Sharks Tagged in Cocos Island National Park: Researchers also Tagged Hammerhead, Silky, Galapagos and Whale Sharks
Fins Attached is excited to announce a recent successful scientific expedition, two adult tiger sharks, four hammerhead sharks, one silky shark, one manta ray, and one whale shark were tagged with acoustic transmitters in Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica. The movements of animals tagged with acoustic tags are tracked by acoustic receivers, or listening stations, deployed around Cocos Island and surrounding seamounts.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Sept. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Fins Attached is excited to announce a recent successful scientific expedition, two adult tiger sharks, four hammerhead sharks, one silky shark, one manta ray, and one whale shark were tagged with acoustic transmitters in Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica. The movements of animals tagged with acoustic tags are tracked by acoustic receivers, or listening stations, deployed around Cocos Island and surrounding seamounts. Click here for a video of the expedition.
Fins Attached collaborated with the Costa Rican NGO Centro Rescate Especies Marinas Amenazadas (CREMA) and the University of Costa Rica's Center for Marine and Limnological Research (CIMAR) on the Sharkwater. Over 130 tissue samples were also collected from 23 different species, including sharks and rays, for stable isotope analysis.
Tiger sharks were once-rare visitors to Cocos Island, but have become regularly sighted since 2009. "We are using an array of methods to study their habitat preference and migratory behavior, from acoustic and satellite tracking to photo ID", explained Elpis Chaves, researcher with CREMA. "The common presence of a previously scarce apex predator seems to have had ecosystem impacts that we are just beginning to understand with these studies."
Since 2015, researchers are deploying acoustic receivers in Las Gemelas, a seamount located 40 miles southwest of Cocos Island at 180 meters of depth. "We already have evidence of persistent movements of hammerhead sharks between Cocos and Las Gemelas", said an excited Randall Arauz, Marine Conservation Policy Advisor for Fins Attached. "With more individuals of different highly migratory species tagged we hope to not only support the case for an expansion of the no-take area surrounding Cocos Island National Park, but also for the establishment of regional conservation policy in their migratory corridors."
"Working to save highly migratory marine endangered species demands efficient regional collaboration, to analyze our results and hammer out a regional conservation policy", stated Alex Antoniou, CEO of Fins Attached. "Fins Attached acquired the research vessel Sharkwater to be able to support this type of work, to provide a platform that facilitates the work of researchers and marine conservationists of the region."
This expedition was led by Randall Arauz and Mauricio Hoyos of Fins Attached, in collaboration with Elpis Chaves and Daniel Arauz of CREMA, Tatiana Araya of the University of Costa Rica, and the regional NGO Migramar.
For more information on Fins Attached expeditions on Sharkwater, please reach out to Randall Arauz, at +506 8708 8253 or rarauz(at)finsattached.org or Elpis Chaves at echavk(at)gmail.com.
To become a sponsor contact info(at)finsattached.org. To donate to support shark research, click here.
About Fins Attached
Fins Attached conducts research, promotes conservation and provides education for the protection of marine ecosystems. Fins Attached believes in the preservation of our world's precious resources and that through the protection of the ocean's apex predators marine ecosystem balance can be maintained for the benefit of all living things on earth. Fins Attached is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Visit http://www.finsattached.org, or email info(at)finsattached.org. http://www.studysharks.org.
About Centro Rescate Especies Marinas Amenazadas
CREMA (http://www.cremacr.org) is a Costa Rican NGO that works to conserve, manage and restore, populations of endangered marine wildlife. It is a member of Migramar.org, a coalition of scientists that work to foster research on highly migratory species in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and is an elected member of the official Cocos Island Conservation Area Regional Council.
SOURCE Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation
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