24 Sep Bimini Sharks Get Tagged

While passive acoustic monitoring is a great tool for understanding space use around Bimini, once a shark leaves the array it is often unknown where they move to next. For migratory species such as the tiger shark and great hammerhead, the Bimini Biological Field Station – Shark Lab employed another tagging method to understand the horizontal long-range movements of these sharks. They used Wildlife Computers SPOT tags to transmit location information to the ARGOS satellite system.

The data showed where a shark moved since it was tagged without the geographical limits of an acoustic array. According to the Shark Lab, “Both tiger and great hammerhead sharks visit Bimini while gravid, and the location of nursery grounds is unknown. Additionally, the protection that is given to these sharks while within the Bahamian Shark Sanctuary is lost once they move out of Bahamian waters. Thus, understanding where they move once they leave Bimini, as facilitated by satellite telemetry, is integral to understanding their ecology and informing conservation.”