Tag Archives: sharks
Scientists at Work: Uncovering the Mystery of When and Where Sharks Give Birth
If you have a toddler, or if you encountered one in the last year, you’ve almost certainly experienced the “Baby Shark” song. Somehow, every kid seems to know this song, but scientists actually know very little about where and when sharks give birth. The origins of these famous baby sharks are still largely a mystery. Many of the large iconic shark species – like great whites, hammerheads, blue sharks and tiger sharks – cross hundreds or thousands of miles of ocean every year. Because they’re so wide-ranging, much of sharks’ lives, including their reproductive habits, remains a secret. Scientists have struggled to figure out precisely where and how often sharks mate, the length of their gestation, and many aspects of the birthing process. >click to read< 13:51
Do Sharks Know When Hurricanes Are Coming?
Hurricanes can cause lots of environmental changes before they make landfall including high winds, storm surge, and high rainfall. They also create areas of extremely low barometric pressure which many animals can detect. For example, sharks have an organ called a ‘lateral line,’ which is a long row of small pores on each side of their body. Connected like a fluid-like canal, they sense changes in the surrounding pressure and are usually used to “feel” wounded prey. But they can also detect drops in the pressure that indicate an approaching hurricane. >click to read< 08:27
“I have never seen sharks like we have now!” – Fishermen say sharks continue to dog efforts
Fishery regulations do not change quickly, but over recent years, commercial fishermen have expressed frustration with the perceived impunity of the actions of sharks in federal waters from North Carolina south to Florida, and the desire to do something about it to protect their ability to do their jobs to the best extent possible. That continued Wednesday during the public comment hour at the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting on Jekyll Island. >click to read<10:36
Sharks have been a major disruption for fishermen off the Outer Banks this year
Sharks are chomping the catch of the day. Fishing off the Outer Banks has been great this year, especially with big hauls of tuna. But boat captains are losing from one or two to 20 fish a day to the opportunistic predators. Able to smell, hear or sense the struggling fish from miles away, sharks come like a pack of wolves. In some cases, anglers are reeling in nothing but the head. “You can’t even get a fish to the boat,” said Jack Graham, first mate on the Fintastic, a charter boat based at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. “You get a bite and look back and there’s just a big cloud of blood.”Sharks are taking the catch along with thousands of dollars in fishing gear, he said. click here to read the story 16:00
Sharks not a blessing to Georgia shrimp fleet
Men like Johnnie Ray Bennett and Ben McDowell do not have to read a federal marine biologist’s study to tell them sharks are thriving in the Atlantic Ocean. These Brunswick shrimp boat captains routinely see the evidence nowadays just about every time they pull in their trawl nets. After returning from a shrimping run Wednesday to the City Market docks, Bennett stood aboard the Flying Cloud and put his fist through one of many gaping holes in the net that hung from the rigging.,,, Marine biologists see the growing shark population as a sign of a healthy ocean ecosystem, and some folks would just rather not think about sharks in our waters at all. But for shrimpers these days, sharks are a downright nuisance. Shrimpers are spending as much time sewing patches in nets as they are dragging nets for shrimp. Click here to read the story 09:10
Do sharks survive after the hook?
Fitbit-like sensors are the best tools for monitoring whether sharks survive catch-and-release fishing — essential data for fisheries management — according to a peer-reviewed study published June 23 by scientists from Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. The study, published online in the scientific journal Fisheries Research, is the first to show that motion-sensing accelerometer tags detect whether a shark has survived and how it recovers from capture stress with much greater certainty than other prevailing technologies. Usually scientists fit sharks with satellite or acoustic transmitters to infer whether a shark has survived using indirect signals like location or depth. In contrast, accelerometers measure sharks’ fine-scale movements directly and with high resolution, including every tail beat, body tilt, ascent and descent. Read the rest here 16:41
How sharks owned the Internet in 2015
In 2015, it was the shark that became the apex predator of the Internet. A combination of tiny POV cameras and ginormous sharks mean that we have been able to get up close and personal with these prehistoric beasts for the first time. When footage emerged from Mexico’s Guadalupe Island of a female shark named Deep Blue, who measured 20-plus feet with the girth of a small elephant, the internet sizzled. In November, Vince McKaney a 35-year commercial fishing veteran, encountered what he believed was a 4000 pound great white. “What it was, it was massive. I could have jumped in his mouth,” he said. “He would have ate me like an aspirin.” Video, read the article here 11:5028 quotes, facts and graphs from the new UN global use of shark products report
The United Nations Food and Agriculture organization just released “fisheries and agriculture technical paper number 590, the state of the global market for shark products” Coauthored by legendary shark conservation researcher Shelley Clarke, this 196 page document is a comprehensive look at, um, the state of the global market for shark products. 18) “The United States of America is an important producer of sharks, a relatively large exporter and a minor importer of shark fins…Read the rest here 17:25
Sharks aren’t always the top of the food chain
Most people think of sharks as being apex predators, large, fearsome hunters sitting right at the top of the ocean food chain. Of course, that isn’t always the case. There are more than 500 known species of sharks, and they vary in size from the size of a pencil to the size of a school bus. In many cases, there’s a larger predator in their environment, which can lead to some surprising and amazing interactions. Read the rest here 15:30
Fished out – Atlantic fishing nations fail to act to protect tuna and sharks.
The ICCAT nations did maintain catch limits on Atlantic bluefin tuna. They also announced steps to force large fishing vessels to carry a unique identification number beginning in 2016, after many cases of illegal fishing off West Africa, with ships often changing names and flags in order to evade sanctions over illegal fishing. “Sharks is where they really dropped the ball,” said Elizabeth Wilson, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ international ocean policy unit, which had observer status at the gathering. “There was very little discussion about sharks. They barely even talked about it in their meetings, which is very disappointing,” she said in a phone interview after the meeting ended. more@thestar 10:22
Michigan men charged with federal wildlife crimes – Aquarium owner accused of collecting Keys fish, selling them
The owner of Michigan aquarium-supply firm made two business trips the Florida Keys in 2011, towing a boat behind a specially equipped van, to collect live saltwater fish and corals for sale, a federal indictment says. The charges were latest in a series of cases involving several defendants accused of knowingly collecting or buying fish harvested in waters within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. more@keysnet 20:17
