Expedition leaders: Dr. Tristan Guttridge and Dr. Phil Matich

Crew: Ali, Alyssa, Anna, Deirdre, Gabby, Lily, and Mike – Lily, a marine biologist, had her position on the expedition fully sponsored by Saving the Blue. Saving the Blue also hosted an open day for Bahamian group BAMSI, in addition to inviting faculty members/students for full day experiences with our team.

Introduction

We just returned from the second Saving the Blue research expedition of 2021, at the Bahamian Island Andros. It was filled with lots of laughter, sharks, adventures and a Saving the Blue first! Over the six-day adventure, we tagged and released 31 sharks from eight different species, including two great hammerheads and a huge male tiger shark! - Teaser: day four was EPIC!

Day 1

On a sunny morning in Ft. Lauderdale, shark enthusiasts from across the country gathered at a semi-private airport. There they met expedition leaders Dr. Phil Matich and Dr. Tristan Guttridge - The Saving the Blue research team had assembled! After loading baggage, we all boarded our charter plane for our 75-minute flight to Andros. Once in the air, we climbed above the clouds and flew across the Gulf Stream that separates the US mainland and the Bahamas Archipelago, and when we started to descend, the beautiful islands of Andros appeared. Flying over the islands, we could see the bright colors of the sea ranging from aqua and turquoise, to teal and a deep blue. It was hard to believe that we were about to embark on a scientific adventure in those exact waters!

We landed in Andros, passed through customs, exited the airport, and loaded the taxis, which were waiting for us and our equipment. We climbed in the taxis and headed south, to the Andros Island Bonefish Club, which would be our home for the week. Before we could start our research, we quickly placed our gear in our rooms and made our way to the dining hall, which would be our meeting point throughout the week.

After a quick lunch and safety briefing the plan for the first afternoon was to deploy drumlines which would contribute to Saving the Blue’s sharks of Andros project. Gear was prepped and loaded as we met our boat captain Cole at the dock. Phil and Tristan discussed the methodology and set-up process as we putted out of the channel; within minutes we were deploying the first of five baited drumlines! After the drumlines were deployed, we sat and waited for a buoy to move or checked them after 45-minutes. It took us several checks before we caught our first shark. It was an adorable blacknose shark, shaped like a torpedo with black smudge on its nose! We continued to fish until it was close to 5:00 PM and then pulled all the drum lines in and headed back to the lodge for a delicious Bahamian dinner.

After eating, we chatted a little bit amongst ourselves before heading to bed. With today’s early start and tomorrow’s planned, a good night’s sleep was in order!

Day 2

We woke up and got ready for the day before loading the boat and departing from the dock around 7:00 AM. We headed towards a location that Saving the Blue had previously caught great hammerhead sharks. One of our main goals for this trip was to deploy a SPOT (smart position and temperature) tag on great hammerheads in order to learn more about this species habitat use in the Bahamas. When we reached the location, we deployed the drumlines and waited, watching the buoys intently for that big splash and prominent scythe-like dorsal fin to break the water’s surface! As the tide began to turn, the scent attracted sharks from the reef edge and we started catching. 

In total we caught three blacknose, three Caribbean reef, and two nurse sharks! Each shark was quickly secured alongside the boat with a tail rope, so that they could be worked-up (e.g. measured and tagged) safely and efficiently. We took measurements such as total length and pre-caudal, determined sex, scanned for an electronic PIT tag (a rice-grain sized transponder that we insert into the muscle next to the dorsal fin, like a tag you would use on a pet) and deployed identification tags (e.g. PIT and external dart tags, known as Casey tags) if not already present. The Casey tags are part of the US National Marine Fishery Service shark tagging program, and if recaught will allow Saving the Blue to learn of any inter-island or international movements of such tagged sharks.

The drumlines were hauled at 2:30 PM as the tide began to slack, and despite not catching our target great hammerhead shark, the team gained valuable experience setting the gear, tagging, and measuring sharks. We all enjoyed a refreshing snorkel to cool off and relax before retrieving and downloading two acoustic receivers that were previously deployed to monitor the local movements of smalltooth sawfish. There were no detections from sawfish, but they did record two tiger sharks, including one large female tagged in Bimini during 2019. After our successful day we returned back to the lodge for johny bread and a tasty fish dinner, excited to find out what day three would have in store for us!

Day 3

One of Saving the Blue’s missions is to provide creative educational opportunities in marine science to the public, including experiential and instructional programs to the international community, with special attention to minority groups, youth, service members, and veterans and their families. For this day, the team led a research experience with the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) which included teaching students and faculty shark capture and tagging methods. We split into two groups for morning and afternoon sessions of gillnetting and drumlining to learn methods used to target juvenile and adult sharks of various species that reside in different habitats (e.g. mangroves vs. reef). 

Tristan led the gillnet team and Phil led drumlining, whilst research assistant Lily flew her drone to search the area for a chance encounter with a critically endangered sawfish. Both crews enjoyed successes throughout the day with Tristan capturing two juvenile lemon sharks and Phil a nurse and Caribbean reef sharks in both sessions. BAMSI students and faculty enjoyed assisting in deploying fishing gear as well as measuring and tagging sharks. It was a great opportunity for everyone to exchange experiences and stories, and for many of the BAMSI team it was their first time to see a shark up close!

Throughout the day Tristan and Phil discussed various aspects of shark biology, characteristics, and behavior, from shark skin to belly buttons and lemon sharks biting their own tails! Around 4:00 PM, we called it a day, enjoyed some tasty donuts that Dr. Hanna (BAMSI, Director) had brought for the crew, cleaned and packed away the fishing gear before finally saying our goodbyes.

On arrival back to the lodge we cleaned all equipment, took showers and enjoyed a tasty supper before hitting our cozy beds for the night. What a day!

Day 4

The day started early with a beautiful sunrise looking out from the lodge! The conditions were fantastic so Tristan and Phil decided the team should head out to an open ocean buoy with the hopes of working with silky sharks. BAMSI teacher Miss Mel joined us for the day to gain further experience working with the sharks. The buoy is anchored in 3300ft (1000+ m) and the silkies typically aggregate there to feed and refuge. One of Saving the Blue’s projects is to learn why, when and for how long the sharks use the buoy. Do they make trips to the reef along the edge of the tongue of the ocean, or stay out in the open ocean pelagic zone? On arrival only one silky shark was spotted and despite the excitement that she was a recapture (a shark previously tagged by our team with external dart ID) the decision was made to move locations in the hopes of deploying a satellite tracking device on a great hammerhead shark.

We travelled to a site known for big sharks and although Tristan and Phil played down the chances of us seeing a big shark everyone could not help but get excited! All six drums were set by mid-morning, and the team were in high spirits with bait, great current and stunning weather. It didn’t take long for us to catch sharks, with a beautiful Caribbean reef shark and a blacknose hitting the baits within the first hour. Watching the buoys from afar gets the heart rate going when the buoy jumps up and down in the water. What could it be? How big? What species?

Around lunch time research assistants Lily and Ali were dropped off at the beach to survey the area with the drone, maybe a big shark or sawfish was cruising the flats? On return to the lines, we noticed one of them was behaving oddly, we decided to check it and found a large male great hammerhead ~10ft pulling against it…WOW! Given the shark had been hooked for an unknown period (although still a short time), Tristan and Phil decided on a quick measurement and external dart tag. Everyone was relieved to see the shark swim off incredibly strong with a swoosh of its tail! It was an opportunity missed to place a tracking device on the shark, but the welfare of the animals is our top priority, and without knowing when the shark had hit the bait, it was important to release it as soon as possible.

At this stage, the adrenaline on the boat was high, nothing like a big hammerhead to get everyone excited about other possibilities for the afternoon. And we didn’t have to wait much longer for another big splash, this time we all witnessed a massive pull on the buoy, up, down, up, down and then gone……What could it be? To take the surface buoy down for 5-10 seconds it had to be big! But what… A hammerhead? Bull shark? Tiger? Everyone was guessing. As we approached the buoy we couldn’t see anything other than a large shape, but as Phil began to pull the line in the distinctive blunt head, prominent dorsal ridge and long tail became clear. It was a MASSIVE male tiger shark. It took some time for the team to secure him safely to the boat, the power of large sharks is extraordinary, even with four people trying to place a tail rope on it, the shark was able to wriggle free. Finally, a tail and pectoral fin rope were secured, and we were able to process the shark taking measurements and placing tags. It was a male tiger shark that measured 3.53m (12ft) stretch total length - the biggest tiger shark Saving the Blue had ever tagged! After a short workup, the tiger was released and lots of smiling faces and whoops of joy were had by the team after being able to see such a beautiful, powerful and iconic shark. 

We did not have much time to catch our breath when another drum disappeared with that all important 10 second delay indicating another big shark! Maybe it was a great hammerhead we could equip with a satellite tag? YES! …. a stunning female measuring just under 10ft was quickly secured alongside the boat. The team jumped into nascar / formula one PIT stop mode with tools quickly passed to Tristan enabling him to attach a SPOT tag to the shark’s dorsal fin. Every time the shark surfaces a signal is transmitted to overhead satellites that provide a positional estimate for the shark. Saving the Blue will follow the shark on her journey for the next nine months. The team were ecstatic as she swam off strong after a short workup. Tristan informed everyone that she was the fourth great hammerhead shark fitted with a SPOT tag, and will provide important data on how this species use the Bahamas archipelago.

After releasing the second hammerhead of the day, the team thought there was no way we would catch another big shark, but we found ourselves in the right place at the right time as another buoy disappeared! Could it be another hammerhead? The telltale dorsal at the surface was not visible, so Phil guessed bull shark, and he was right. A big, round bull shark came to the surface. Thankfully, she allowed our team to secure her to the side of the boat relatively quickly, and after taking her measurements (9ft/2.6m) and placing PIT and external dart tags, we released her. At this point the whole team were WIDE eyed, with beaming smiles!

We just could not believe what had happened in the past two hours…two great hammerheads, a huge male tiger shark and bull shark! A jackpot of big sharks that were talked about for the rest of the evening over a local fish supper, beer and Tristan’s sharks of Andros lecture! A day that will live long in our memories!

Day 5

Another early morning start as we only had a half day on the water. We all grabbed a quick breakfast (toast and cereal with fruit), loaded up the drumline gear and headed back to one of our most successful fishing spots to see if we could add to the excitement of yesterday! We only had a few hours fishing as we had to return to shore for our mandatory COVID test.

On route we enjoyed an early morning rain shower, which cleared to blue sunny skies and warm Bahamian sun. The day started well when three beautiful reef sharks were caught and added to our shark tally for the week; it was great to see so many healthy Caribbean reef sharks of all sizes! Today’s captures put Saving the Blue close to 100 reef sharks caught in Andros since June 2019, an incredible amount of reef sharks with some truly insightful data collected. At 12:30 PM we reluctantly hauled our fishing gear and headed back to the lodge.

After a short clean up, we took a group photo and Cole drove us up to the testing center in Fresh Creek, where everyone was quickly swabbed for their COVID test; thankfully everyone was negative!

On return to the lodge, Tristan gave his research methods lecture which everyone enjoyed. During our research expeditions we always include lectures on a variety of topics and they’re always well received! Next up was a delicious dinner with a scrumptious cheesecake dessert! After dinner a few of the team stayed up to chat, bond on common ground (sharks!), and share photos, which is always a highlight! Before long though, it was off to bed.

Day 6

After a couple of earlier mornings, it was nice to start at a normal-ish hour (7:00 AM) with everyone enjoying an omelet or scrambled eggs for breakfast, with fresh fruit and juice. Today, Tenae, a first year marine science student from BAMSI, joined us to gain experience on the boat, and we were excited to return to where we captured the two great hammerheads earlier in the week!

Before we began fishing we retrieved an acoustic receiver that was deployed last year to monitor sawfish and other sharks using the flats in the northern bight. Unfortunately, we had no such luck on sawfish detections, but two tiger sharks were detected, one a large female detected the night before! – clearly many big sharks are using this area.

Back to fishing and everyone was extremely excited, could we repeat day four and capture another great hammerhead for our tracking project? By day six the team was a well-oiled machine, setting the drums, recording data, prepping bait for hooks and placing them into the water with ease. Within 20 mins we had six hooks deployed, and everyone was eagerly awaiting the first splash. We didn’t have long to wait, something huge pulled under one of the rigs, but on inspection the bait had disappeared, and our hook was completely bent! What was it? Whatever it was, it must have scared all the other sharks as for the next two hours we caught nothing.

By the end of the day, we started to see some action, with three bullet-shaped blacknose sharks tagged and released along with a final Caribbean reef shark of the trip. As the day neared to a close, a storm began to rumble its way in, so we quickly retrieved the gear and returned to the lodge.

On arrival the crew cleaned the research equipment, showered and began some light packing in readiness for tomorrows departure. After showers the crew settled down for some warm soup and supper, before finally heading to bed for the final night on Andros.

Day 7

Everyone was sad this morning, because it was our final day in The Bahamas. We were joined by another BAMSI student, Blaine, whose father is a well-known bonefish guide. After loading the boat we headed out to the navy buoy to try our luck with tagging silky sharks. We deployed one line with bait, and waited and hoped. We thought we struck out, but we did catch what we believed was the same individual that we saw earlier in the week. We brought it to the boat and recorded the CASEY tag; it was recap shark from the summer who had grown 25cm in 6 months!

On the way home we stopped off for a snorkel at one of our team’s favorite ocean blue holes. The crew geared up and we snorkeled around the blue hole looking at the colorful corals and abundant sea life that bordered it. A few of the team relished the opportunity to practice some shallow water freediving and had great fun in the shallows! Once we’d finished our snorkel we retrieved another acoustic receiver to complete our array download in the flats and then lastly, we headed back to the lodge for the final time.

At the lodge we quickly packed up the last of our belongings and said ‘see you soon’ to Captain Cole and the Bonefish staff. Then we jumped in our taxis to head north, to the airport. On our flight home everyone enjoyed reminiscing on the past week whilst taking in their last glimpse of the beautiful islands of Andros. Goodbyes followed, however, we all knew we’d stay in touch, and see each other again! What an incredible week that we’ll never forget.

Thank you

Thank you to our research trip leaders Dr. Tristan Guttridge and Dr. Phil Matich for guiding the team through an incredibly successful week. A huge thank you to our research assistants for their passion, determination and endless enthusiasm to work hard, learn and produce results. We would also like to thank the Andros Island Bonefish Club for their hospitality, and the hardworking and ever professional Cole from PFO Charters for his top class boating and captaining skills.

Gratitude must also go to all on the trip for their generosity in allowing us to use their images in this blog.