With my field work finished and my final shark dive over I have quickly been made to abandon island life and ‘Fiji time’ to face reality back home in England. Three weeks in and after having analysed hours and hours of video footage the write up for my University work is now complete, as is my Masters degree. Yet work goes on, ready for this research to be presented at the European Elasmobranch Association Annual Conference at the end of October in Berlin, Germany.

Initial analysis conducted on the data gathered from the blacktip, whitetip and grey reef sharks of Shark Reef Marine Reserve has indicated there is some promise to the shy – bold continuum within sharks, especially between species and individuals. However, this research is the first of its kind to be carried out on elasmobranchs. Therefore its findings should act as a starting point on which to base further research which is greatly needed in order to increase our knowledge of the behavioural traits of these top marine predators.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my shark diving summer and owe a sincere thank you to Juerg, without whom none of this would have materialised! A great big thank you also goes to Mike Neumann, Nanise Ledua and all the guys at Beqa Adventure Divers for allowing me to dive with them for two months. Also for their help, support and for making me feel so welcome.