First quarter finished and thanks to the Canadians!

As of the 1st of September 2008 we have officially finished the first quarter sampling period.  Thirty-five sharks of five different species were seen on the baited video surveys and 194 sharks from seven species were caught tagged and released from the longline surveys.  In addition to the passive tags, fourteen acoustic tags were surgically implanted in Caribbean reef and tiger sharks with ten more for bull shark when they arrive later in the year – it’s been a very busy couple of months!

In the last week we had some Canadian visitors helping out with the final longline surveys, the Tropical Islands Ecosystems field course which is part of Ontario Universities Program in Field Biology.  The course is run by Dr Steven Cooke from Carlton university and CEI’s very own Dr. Andy Danylchuk.

Despite the shocking weather from Hurricane Hannah the crew managed to get out in the field and help catch some sharks, do some field physiology with barracuda and capture some bonefish for some laboratory trials.  Thanks for all the help folks!