Ellie continues to give us almost daily updates of her position. She is still west of Ireland and has been in roughly the same area for the past month. Charlie’s PAT tag is still transmitting data to us though we expect the battery to run out shortly. We have downloaded a very detailed data-set for the tag and are deciding on the best analyses methods at the moment.

The three remaining PAT tags, including those on Ellie and Shannon, should pop up in June so hopefully all will go well with those. Keep tracking the porbeagles here.

Ellie’s SPOT tag also continues to give us regular transmissions. After making a big push northwards along the shelf west of Ireland she turned back south suddenly and has been heading slowly south for the past week or so. This may be related to feeding as the spawning mackerel are also moving south along the shelf at this time of year. We should get a better idea when her PAT tag detaches and sends us her dive profile.

Keep watching

March 2013 represents an important month for the future conservation of the porbeagle shark. The porbeagle has been listed on CITES Appendix II. This listing is a significant advance on this and would ensure that porbeagles are managed throughout their range to prevent overexploitation due to international trade.
The EU team that achieved this landmark development was supported by Sarah Fowler and Maurice Clarke, who gave scientific, technical and institutional advice to the Irish team, led by Feargal O’Coigligh, who represented the EU at the conference.

According to the IUCN Red List porbeagles are Vulnerable globally, Endangered in the northwest Atlantic, and Critically Endangered in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Porbeagles have been protected in EU waters since 2010 when a zero TAC (Total Allowable Catch) was introduced and are subject to a management plan in Canadian waters. In 2012 the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) prohibited all directed fishing and retention of porbeagles in their regulatory area however they are still largely unprotected in International waters.

We will be watching the developments at the CITES meeting with interest and hopefully an agreement can be reached to help ensure the future conservation of this enigmatic species.

The first of our five PAT tags is also set to detach in just over a month so fingers crossed we get some good data back from that too. Keep watching the porbeagle tracker and make sure to like us on facebook too.

Our other SPOT tagged porbeagle ‘Shannon’ hasn’t given us a position fix since early October so we are not sure if her SPOT tag is still functioning correctly. Luckily though her PAT tag is still attached so she is still gathering important data. Likewise ‘Alex’, ‘Charlie’ and ‘Sharon’ are all still swimming free and gathering some interesting data in their PAT tags. Some exciting reports to come in the near future.

One of the nicest features of the SPOT tags is the long deployment times that they are capable of so it will be interesting to see if this shark makes the return journey north next year. Lets hope she can avoid the nets!

Whats even better news is that we are sharing the near real time tracks of the two SPOT tags with everyone. Just log on to the ‘Porbeagle Tracker’  to see where the sharks are and what migration routes they are following. They are already heading south from Ireland along the shelf edge so lets hope these particular sharks are feeling adventurous.

As always Peter, our angler,  did a great job of getting the shark onboard and back into the water as quickly and as stress free as possible. There have been no early reports from the tags so all seem to be working fine. Fingers crossed they record some nice data now which can help us understand the life of these amazing animals.

We’re still trying to get the first ever SPOT tags deployed on porbeagles in the Northeast Atlantic so watch this space.