Expedition leaders: Dr. Tristan Guttridge and Sorantaa Bain

Crew: Alex, Deana, Liz, Lori, Sami, Tom and resident marine science student Kristin from the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI). Kristin joined us for a week to assist with hands on research and to grow her in-field skills. Kristin’s position was sponsored by Saving the Blue.

Introduction

A wonderful week with some wonderful people! Our highlights include: Satellite tagging a Great hammerhead, conducting a beach clean-up and acoustic tagging multiple shark species, including a large tiger! Read more below….

Day 1

The day we had all been waiting for, go time! We started off at a private charter airport to check in luggage and meet the crew. The team received their our own Saving the Blue shirt and began to discuss their hopes for the week ahead! You could feel the excitement in the room!

After weighing all the luggage and research equipment, we were on our way to the island. As we approached Andros, we were all able to see how truly wild it was, with most of the western side of the island protected as a national park. Blue holes pocket a landscape without a building in sight.

On landing, we made our way through immigration, and after a 30-minute taxi ride south, we arrived to our accommodation and were welcomed by local expedition leader Sorantaa Bain and the Bonefish Lodge staff. Everyone had a little time to unpack before listening to some lodge rules and regulations, followed by a safety and protocol briefing from Tristan. After a quick bite to eat, the crew headed out for their first afternoon on the water.

Once set, it was a waiting game so jokes, stories, and fun shark facts were shared. On arrival to each drum line, data such as water temperature, depth habitat type etc is recorded. We set drum lines for the remainder of the afternoon and caught a few beautiful nurse sharks. The team are always watching the rigs for movement which usually indicates an animal is on the line, and during this process a buoy was hit hard and went underwater! As we approached the buoy we saw the silhouette of a hammerhead! Unfortunately, the shark got off the line as soon as we touched it, indicating it was barely hooked, however it was exciting to know a hammerhead was nearby!

On arrival back to the lodge, the team quickly got themselves ready for dinner. After our delicious food we called it a night and headed for bed.

Day 2

We woke this morning to challenging conditions of high winds and swell. Rather than staying landlocked we chose to try our luck and headed out to the shallows, in a new location, hidden from the wind and chop.

We stayed close to shore and deployed our lines. Although conditions and our location were far from ideal we were still out in the stunning waters of the Bahamas fishing and so team spirits were high and optimistic.

After a few hours we had our first shark, a cute little blacknose! The shark was quickly measured, tagged and released and we got back to fishing. We set and reset for hours, however no other sharks were caught. We were all reminded that this was called fishing, not catching. No captures are ever guaranteed and although today was extremely quiet we made the most of the time on the boat; data collection is always important, sharks or no sharks.

After a long afternoon, we finally called it day and headed back home to warm up, eat good food and rest.

Day 3

Our morning started slow and we wondered if today we would face the same pace as yesterday. Once set we waited and waited but after many hours not a single shark was caught. Nothing is guaranteed after all, these are wild sharks in a truly wild habitat. Tristan suggested the lack of shark captures in this particular location could be due to a large predator (a hammerhead, tiger, bull etc.) in the area, making their prey (blacktip, blacknose etc.) shy and cautious hence a lack of captures. So, once we hit a slack tide we decided to take a break, and took the opportunity to reward the team with a treat….

We headed to a very special area – A place known as Isla’s spot. As we arrived we found a good viewing site, and watched as lemon and blacknose sharks began to approach, exhibiting curiosity towards their visitors! The team enjoyed the close interaction experience with the sharks as they swam within a few inches of our feet! Altogether there were around 5 lemon sharks and 2 blacknose, ranging from a few months old to a couple years, illustrating differences in age, size and coloration, but overlap in their space use! After our incredible encounter it was time to get back to work!

We returned to the same spot we had worked in the morning and after another few hours of no action we almost gave up hope! But then….. Our buoys started moving through the water and it was clear a large shark was on the line! As we moved closer we were able to identify the large shark as a large tiger! Tristans intuition was correct!

Team spirts went from low to high in minutes! After a very long day of patiently waiting the team were finally hit with adrenaline as this large tiger shark was secured to the boat and ready for a workup. The shark measured ~300cm (~10ft) and for many of team was a once in a lifetime encounter. We quickly processed and released the shark and soon after hauled the last of our rigs and made our way back to the lodge.

Today was another exmaple of how patient you must be as a researcher. Big sharks do not get big by chance; they are cautious and patient and sometimes you just simply have to put in the time for the result you seek.

Day 4

After a long few days today started a little easier with breakfast and a lecture on the Sharks of The Bahamas by Dr. Tristan Guttridge. Them team enjoyed listening to Tristan’s presentation while asking questions throughout. After the lecture and with slack tide still present we had just enough time for a quick snorkel! The team hopped in and enjoyed a variety of fishes and corals.

After our snorkel it was time to get to work as we had a long afternoon ahead of us. Lines were busy today with Caribbean reef sharks - We successfully implanted an acoustic tag in some of them! The acoustic tag was implanted into the body cavity of the shark and each time it passes within 1500ft (500m) of a receiver (a listening device) it will ‘talk’ to it, sending an ID code, time and date stamp. These acoustic tags have a battery life of ~10 years and through our receiver array, and other scientists in the Bahamas and US we monitor the movement and habitat use of a mixture of animals, including sharks.

After our Caribbean reef shark captures we went on to catch our final shark of the day, a nurse shark. Soon after the shark was tagged and released it was time to head back to the lodge for dinner, great conversation, and our beds for some recovery time.

Day 5

Today, our crew were up before sunrise, as we had ambitious plans to visit our silky shark location in an attempt to capture and fit acoustic tags on any silky sharks (within our desired size range) present. Unfortunately, conditions were a little rough and with human and shark safety our priority we decided to swap fishing for a quick dive. All team members hopped in and enjoyed the sharks in the bright blue water of the pelagic zone!

Resident marine science student Kristen from BAMSI joined us all week long to assist with hands on research and to grow her in-field skills. in addition, she was able to snorkel in the water with sharks for the very first time and what a way to do it, with bold and curious silky sharks!

After our morning dive it was back to the lodge for a mini break, a lecture and lunch before heading back out to fish. Our first shark of the day was a blacknose! After a short wait we had a Great hammerhead on the line, however as we carefully brought the shark towards the boat it escaped. The team were thrilled to get a glimpse of a large hammerhead, however were of course disappointed the shark was able to escape without a tag.

After the high and lows of what could have been we went on to catch a Caribbean reef shark which we successfully acoustically tagged, followed by the main event of the day, another hammerhead! Great hammerheads are sensitive to capture (i.e. high at-vessel mortality) and time is everything which is why our trip leaders run through hammerhead captures with the team daily to ensure everyone knows what they will be doing during a capture. The team worked incredibly fast to process the shark; the animal was seen, secured, tagged and released in under 10 minutes!

After the high of the hammerhead, we couldn’t believe our eyes when another buoy went and it was ANOTHER hammerhead! Unfortunately, this hammerhead also escaped capture, and although disappointing, we would rather lose the animal than inflict any harm. After our incredibly exciting and productive day it was time to head in for dinner, showers and a well deserved rest.

Day 6

Today started with a lecture by Dr. Tristan Guttridge. In addition to lectures being educational, they also offer the opportunity to bond with fellow shark enthusiasts and direct questions towards a leading expert. Tristan is one of, if not the worlds leading shark behavioral specialist and offers over 20 years of experience, knowledge, advice and guidance during his sessions.

After our lecture we changed gears back to fishing. Our first shark of the day was a big lemon shark! Lemon sharks are often considered a more dangerous shark to capture due to their incredible flexibility and speed, so the team worked fast, but extremely cautiously with this large animal. It was measured, tagged and released and the rig redeployed.

The afternoon saw us catch additional sharks, including Caribbean reef and nurse sharks. As always, team members were involved in the full process and dependent on their education and experience, were securing sharks, measuring, tagging, assisting with data and more. After the nurse shark things went a little quiet and it was time to haul our lines and head back to the lodge; hot showers and dinner was waiting for us!

Day 7

Our last day and in our final few hours it was time to give back through a beach and mangrove clean-up. During the clean the team focused on smaller plastics although we couldn’t resist the odd large item such as an old boat fender, a plastic crate and a broken table!

After our clean-up we made our way back to the lodge one final time to grab showers, some food and to pack our final things. Once settled we took our taxi’s north back to the airport and boarded our plane back to the United States. As always, it was hard saying goodbye, but what an incredible week we’d all spent together, one many of us will never forget.

Thank you

Thank you to our research trip leaders Dr. Tristan Guttridge and Sorantaa Bain 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 Marvin Sarg 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.