Knowledge Exchange Part 1

Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) representatives to Trinidad.

Dr. David Portnoy and his PhD student, Lizz Dolan, flew to Trinidad to take part in field operations involved in acquiring data and samples of hammerheads from around the island. The purpose of their trip was to understand how field sampling is done, as well as to visit various fish markets and landing sites to participate in sampling sharks landed by fishers. During their time there, they were able to visit landing sites and sample various shark species at Maracas Beach on the north coast of Trinidad, multiple sites along the western coast including the Orange Valley Wholesale Fish Market, and sites from north of Matura to Grande Riviere in the northeast. During the trip, the weather was cooperative, allowing Dr. Portnoy and Lizz to assist Dr. Kingon and her team in longlining by hand for sharks in two different locations. The first field sampling day took place in the Gulf of Paria, in locations just south of Chacachacare and Monos Islands. The calm Gulf waters provided a productive sampling day with 2 species of sharks, smalltail (Carcharhinus porosus) and Caribbean sharpnose (Rhizoprionodon porosus) and 3 species of teleost caught and sampled. Their second fishing day took place north of Toco, where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. The waters here were very different from those of the Gulf of Paria with much more wave action, leaving Dave and Lizz with a new appreciation for the difficulty of sampling this region, even on a calm day. Although the seas were much more active, the fishing day was incredibly productive, with a total of 29 sharks and rays caught across 5 species, plus 3 boney fish species. Most notably, they encountered a lot of Mustelus higmani, a very distinctive species of smoothhound with bright yellow coloration on their second dorsal and caudal fins. Below are some pictures highlighting the trip.

Dr. David Portnoy (TAMU-CC) with some red snappers (Lutjanus purpureus) at the fish stall of Caleb (Kelly) Moore, one of the fishers that often takes Dr. Kelly Kingon and her team out from Balandra, east coast of Trinidad. Photo © Kelly Kingon

An early morning visit to the fish market and landing site at Orange Valley on the west coast of Trinidad with Lizz Dolan (TAMU-CC) and some large Cubera snappers (Lutjanus cyanopterus). Photo © Kelly Kingon

Lizz Dolan (left, TAMU-CC) and Dr. Kelly Kingon (right) deploying the longline in the Gulf of Paria. Photo © David Portnoy

Lizz Dolan (holding the shark, TAMU-CC) and Tyler Ford (UTT undergraduate student) with a smalltail shark (Carcharhinus porosus) that we caught and tagged on our fishing trip in the northern part of the Gulf of Paria. Photo © David Portnoy

Our fishing crew on the way back from the Gulf of Paria. From left to right, Lizz Dolan (TAMU-CC), Ckurlene Lewis (undergraduate student at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT)), Captain Navin Kalpoo, Aimee Boisselle (undergraduate student at UTT) and Dr. David Portnoy (TAMU-CC). Photo © Kelly Kingon

Sampling a young of the year scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) at the Balandra fish landing site on the east coast of Trinidad with Lizz Dolan and Dr. Portnoy. Photo © Kelly Kingon

The fishing depot in Toco with a typical artisanal fishing boat called a pirogue in the back and a fisher cleaning a snapper (Lutjanus sp.) in the front. Photo © David Portnoy