In the Field – Monitoring Sharks and Manta Rays on a Remote Island (PART 2: Sharks)

SHOW NOTES

The isolation and remoteness of D’Arros and St Joseph make them a safe haven for many different species of shark [03.55]. The SOSF-DRC have many research and monitoring projects focusing on different aspects of elasmobranch ecology, biology and behaviour, but their overall goal is to understand why this area is so important to them, and how sharks and rays use the many different habitats around the island and atoll. “We all know that conservation is a game of compromise. We can’t just shut off the oceans to use. That’s not going to work. So, if we know that we’re going to have to make these kinds of compromises, if we know that we’re going to have to work with other stakeholders and other users, we need to know where are the places that are particularly important? What are the times of year? What are the seasons that are particularly important? So that we can be more precise in how we apply conservation and actually get the job done,” says Rob Bullock, research director for the SOSF-DRC.

Research officer Ellie Moulinie is studying some of these species in their very earliest stages of life, in the neighbouring atoll of St Joseph [07.15]. Think of the atoll like a tropical kindergarten for sharks – a safe space where they can learn how to be a shark before heading out into the big, wide ocean. And we spent two days at the atoll, camping overnight, to find and tag as many baby sharks as we could. In Rob’s words, this is like “giving the shark a name” so that they can be recognised again. “When we’re doing mark-recapture experiments, we’re looking to understand how many animals (do) we have in our population in a particular space. So, at St. Joseph, we’re wanting to know how many individuals, juvenile individuals of our black-tip reef sharks, of our sicklefin lemon sharks, do we have.”

After about an hour of standing thigh deep in water that was so warm it was like standing in a hot bath, the baby sharks finally appeared [14.18]. The team managed to capture several juvenile lemon sharks and blacktip reef sharks, which were carefully and efficiently measured and tagged. One individual was less than a month old! A PIT tag is also inserted, and a faecal sample taken – the latter of which will go towards Ellie’s individual research project.

“We’re doing a diet assessment on the juvenile sharks in St. Joseph atoll… and the importance of this study is really to help bridge the knowledge gap on shark diet because we say that sharks are top of the food chain, they maintain balance and stability in the marine ecosystems. But that’s it. That’s all we can see. You know they eat the fish. But what fish are they eating?” Ellie explains. St Joseph was recently declared an Important Shark and Ray Area, thanks to all the data collected by the SOSF-DRC over the years. Ellie hopes that her project, in conjunction with all the other research they carry out, can further inform conservation management for these species.

The following day, we head back to D’Arros island after a night being rocked to sleep by the sounds of the atoll [29.55]. On St Joseph, we were monitoring sharks in their very earliest stages of life. But the SOSF-DRC is also working to understand more about the adults, and why the waters around D’Arros are so important to them. The SOSF-DRC has gathered a lot of data on sharks over the years, especially around coastal species, like reef sharks. But there are still questions to be explored, such as what larger, pelagic species are up to. A part of this is heading out into the open ocean to try and capture and tag some of these sharks, and our best chance of encountering them is at night. So, the following evening, just after sunset, we headed out to do just that.

As the sun melted into the horizon, we set up our fishing lines with bait, and tossed them into the water, waiting for something to bite. It took a while, but finally, we caught a silvertip shark – a large species of requiem shark. They can reach up to 3 metres in length, and are active, agile predators with striking silvery-white tips on their fins. Rob and Save Our Seas Foundation CEO Dr James Lea, who was assisting with the tagging, brought the shark up to the side of the boat, where they secured it and quickly began getting to work, taking measurements, DNA samples, and inserting PIT tags.

With sharks, you can also minimise stress on the animal by putting them into something called tonic immobility, a temporary, trance-like state that the shark enters into when you flip them onto their backs [36.00]. It’s also thought to act similarly to an anaesthetic, in that the shark is, for a short period, unresponsive to stimuli. This means that a PIT tag can be inserted under the shark’s skin with minimal stress to the animal. This all takes just a few minutes, and then the shark is released back into the ocean.

And this female silvertip wasn’t the only shark to come say hi. After her, we caught a grey reef shark, another agile, predatory species, commonly found hunting on coral reefs. It was fascinating work to watch. But, as the night darkened, a thunderstorm started to roll in, signalling it was our time to head back to dry land, and to bed…

There’s no point in tagging sharks unless you have a way of getting the data from them. The following morning, we hopped on the boat once again, this time with our dive gear, to go and collect data from the receivers that the team had placed all around the island [40.00].

All this data that the team are collecting – both with the juvenile sharks in St Joseph and the adult sharks in the surrounding ocean – is providing vital information to help ensure the protection of this important area [44.09]. But, as with many things to do with the environment, protections for D’Arros and St Joseph are slow to progress: “Around D’Arros there is a gazetted Marine National Park,” explains Henriette. “It’s important to understand what gazetted means. That means the boundaries have been defined, the corners of the box have been defined and are in law, but there are no rules and regulations yet in law. They are yet to come. So there’s no commencement date yet. So the government is still working on that. Once they have that, then you have rules that will apply to these types of national parks that fall under the highest level of protection that Seychelles has…so you could argue whether you could call the waters around us protected right now or not yet. I would just call it a work in progress.”

It’s hard to not be dazzled by D’Arros, being surrounded by such abundance and diversity and colour [49.18]. In a world where we’re bombarded with news about our struggling oceans, D’Arros and St Joseph are a reminder of what is possible if we protect these ecosystems and allow them to recover. “To me, D’Arros and St Joseph are a beacon of hope,” Ellie says. Dillys agrees: “D’Arros wasn’t always this paradise with a conservation priority, as it is now. It was a coconut plantation…so D’Arros is an example of how we can turn things around, how we can switch from something bad to something good.”

It’s also easy to feel uplifted from being around the SOSF-DRC team in their natural habitat. Watching a small team work so well together, with such passion and joy for what they do, gives you hope in other ways. It’s the kind of bond that can only come from working in such a remote place, overcoming challenges as a team.

Another important theme that runs throughout the work of the SOSF-DRC is passing on that knowledge and passion to others, and opening doors for other young Seychellois to come into the field. They do this in many ways, via their internship scheme, or through kids camps, where Seychellois youth come to experience D’Arros for themselves and dip their toes in the world of scientific research. “I think for Seychelles, D’Arros is the place to be for young scientists,” says Dillys. “So them coming here, seeing the island as it is, and learning from all the research that we do, this will really build capacity for the country.”

Ellie adds, “It’s incredible to just be doing actual science, having the opportunity to be doing actual science, but also having the opportunity to teach other Seychellois and encourage them, and to show them that it doesn’t end here. If you really want something, you will go out and you will get it. No matter how many doors you have to break down. So to me that is the most rewarding part, both as an individual but as a young Seychellois showing the world that we are qualified and we are capable.”

This is part 2 of In the Field: Monitoring Sharks and Manta Rays on a Remote Island. For part 1, where we take part in shark tagging and monitoring, head here.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

HENRIETTE GRIMMEL

Programme Director, SOSF-DRC

Growing up in Germany and Switzerland, where competitive swimming and rowing meant that she spent a lot of time in and on water, Henriette has always had a strong connection to this element. At university Henriette studied geography and environmental sciences and it took a few more years before she discovered an interest in diving in Lake Zurich and a fascination for sharks. She followed these up with saltwater experiences while volunteering in Mozambique, where she assisted in whale shark research and fish censuses. After further travels and a dive-master internship in Honduras, she went on to complete an Erasmus Mundus Master’s in marine biodiversity and conservation, conducting her field study at the Bimini Biological Field Station in The Bahamas. She gained further experience in marine research while working with the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute (LAMAVE) in the Philippines, where she helped to monitor a mobulid fishery and assisted in shark research in Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park.

 

Although it was diving and sharks that got Henriette into marine science, she has always been interested in the complexities of ocean management and how humans interact with the marine world, so she completed a second Erasmus Mundus Master’s, this time in maritime spatial planning from the universities of Seville, the Azores and Iuav Venice. Sharks and conservation remain close to her heart, but Henriette also has a very strong interest in understanding ocean processes, ecosystem services and how humans use them, and finding a pathway to governing that use in a sustainable manner.

DR ROBERT BULLOCK

Research Director, SOSF-DRC

Rob can trace his love for science and the marine world back to his youth and to Sir David Attenborough, whose words instilled a curiosity that soon grew into a passion for learning about nature. As an adult, Rob pursued this passion, studying marine and freshwater biology at the University of Hull. As he learned more about the marine realm and its inhabitants, he became particularly interested in the importance of species in healthy ecosystems and the need for science-based conservation. Through his education, he discovered the amazing diversity among sharks, the fascinating roles they play in marine systems and the extreme threats they face.

Rob conducted his PhD research at the Bimini Biological Field Station, where he worked as a Principal Investigator and studied the fine-scale behaviour of young lemon sharks using the Bimini Island nursery sites. He then moved on to broaden his skill set as a post-doctoral research associate with the Marine Biodiversity Unit of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), assessing extinction risk to marine species. Rob’s career thus far has taken him to the intersection of scientific research and conservation action, and he is driven to deliver science with tangible conservation outcomes.

ELLIE MOULINIE

Research Officer, SOSF-DRC

Born and raised in Seychelles, Ellie loves the island life. She comes from a family of fishermen living next to the ocean, so school holidays meant enjoying the sun and sea every day and, as a strong swimmer, especially snorkelling and diving. Her love of animals, nature and the ocean and her desire to visit all 115 islands in Seychelles influenced her to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in environmental science at the University of Seychelles. Only after learning how to dive did she realise that she wanted to specialise in marine science and fisheries. As an intern for Global Vision International, she learnt about fish and marine invertebrates and their importance, and how to conduct surveys to monitor them. She ventured further into marine research by volunteering with the NGO Green Island Foundation, helping to conduct surveys on islands such as North, Denis and Fregate. In 2018, Ellie joined an Earthwatch team on Curieuse Island, where she participated in its Coral Communities in Seychelles Project.

Always moving her career in conservation forward, Ellie most recently worked with the Seychelles Islands Foundation as a field research officer on Aldabra Atoll, where her tasks consisted of conducting terrestrial surveys on the flora and fauna as well as marine research as part of Aldabra’s annual marine monitoring programme. As a young emerging scientist and conservationist, she believes it is her duty and responsibility to do her part to protect global ecosystems and threatened species against anthropogenic stressors and the effects of climate change that are causing the loss of biodiversity.

DILLYS POUPONEAU

Research Officer, SOSF-DRC

Originally from Praslin Island, home of the largest nut in the world (coco de mer), Dillys had some amazing experiences as a member of environmental clubs during her school years and these taught her the importance of protecting biodiversity. They inspired her to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, specialising in tropical biodiversity conservation, at the University of Seychelles.

As a young environmental conservationist with an interest in all living things and habitat types, Dillys has had the privilege of working on numerous terrestrial and marine projects, ranging from scientific research to environmental education and sustainability projects on several islands in Seychelles. She also has a strong interest in well-preserved biodiverse ecosystems, which she enjoys capturing on video and in photographs that enable her to raise awareness and engage people’s interest. She is keen to fill her professional and private life with anything that is fun, artistic, creative, exploratory and adventurous, as long as it is in the wild. Dillys wishes to pursue her studies further and develop the necessary skills required to become a great scientist and nature photographer and videographer.

Her career began at the Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve, where she worked as a field research assistant before undertaking her academic degree. After finishing at university, she was employed as the sustainability manager at a five-star hotel and most recently she worked as the assistant conservation officer with the Island Conservation Society. She worked on Silhouette Island (93% national park and surrounding marine park) and at Aride Island Special Reserve and Marine Protected Area, where she coordinated conservation projects and managed a team of eight.