Life in the Shark Lane

Posted on

*Beep Beep* *Beep Beep*

I wake up to the sound of my alarm. It’s 3:30am. Not your usual Sunday sleep in. Then again, I’m not in Kansas anymore (or at least fellow volunteer Andrew isn’t). I’m at the Bimini Biological Field Station, also known well around the world as the Shark Lab. What am I doing here? Well, it’s 3:30 am, I’m not sure I’m awake enough to answer that question.

Joining fellow sleepy-eyed team members Natasha and Harry, lab managers Ben and Ches lead us out from the dock on our research vessel of choice for our middle of the night shark research adventure: checking longlines for sharks. Leaving the calm, mangrove-protected waters, all thoughts of a disturbed body clock are soon forgotten thanks to the eager anticipation of what might be waiting for us on the longlines, combined with a healthy dose of salty spray to the face. The night vision starts to kick in, and I’m now wide awake with excitement looking up at a clear sky full of stars and watching a trail of bioluminescent plankton in our wake.

The outline of the island of South Bimini grows smaller behind us. The reflective tape of a float catches our eye in the beam of our spotlight, signaling the start of our first longline to check. With each passing of a float and hook with bait still intact, anticipation grows for the moment we might come across a shark instead.

At this point, you might still be wondering what the point of all this is. Maya, why aren’t you sleeping right now? Great question. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for five lines of 500m length each stretching out ahead of us in the darkness, towards the edge of the Gulf Stream waters. It is this current system we have to thank for the productive, shark-rich waters of The Bahamas, Bimini in particular. With at least nine species of sharks found commonly, and reliably, around the island, this “Island in the Stream” provides the ideal ecosystem for scientists to study these ecologically significant and fascinating creatures.

By setting out a series of baited longlines offshore, we have the opportunity to encounter species of sharks that we would otherwise struggle to have access to for important research. This is just one example of a field survey method involved in shark research at the Shark Lab. Data collected from sharks caught on these longlines will help us learn more about their population demographics, ecology and movements, ultimately contributing to a greater understanding of these misunderstood fishes. Did you know that the great hammerhead shark makes large-scale return migrations of over 3000 km? It is this sort of research that has put Bimini on the global map for shark research, with some of the most interesting things we know about sharks having come out of this Lab.

For someone like myself who has an interest in pursuing shark research, this makes volunteering at the Bimini Biological Field Station a significant dream goal in career development as a scientist, and has been somewhat of a rite of passage for many renowned shark researchers around the world. Studying marine biology at university allowed me the opportunity to learn more about the life underwater that had fascinated me ever since learning to scuba dive at age 14. Sharks in particular captured my interest because of their unique physiology that allows them to serve such an important ecological role in the marine ecosystem. I began to seek opportunities for practical research experience, and wondering what it would be like, and what it takes, to be a shark researcher.

Although I may not have been at the Shark Lab for as long as the usual multi-month volunteers that I’ve been fortunate to work with, this experience has been monumental in providing me the best possible hands-on exposure to life in shark science. From learning to handle and collect data from a smorgasbord of sharks and stingrays, to chopping perfect hammerhead bite-sized pieces of bait, and everything in between, I have come to think fondly of my time at the Shark Lab aptly as Shark Research Heaven. One of the best things about being a Shark Lab volunteer is knowing that every task we are assigned, no matter how great or small, is a chance to contribute to the big picture of our scientific understanding and conservation of these animals. The more we know about something, the better we can make decisions to help manage and protect it.

Getting the chance to volunteer at the Shark Lab is much like the lottery winning feeling of getting a shark on a longline survey. That moment, when you know all the hard work – or in this case, the early wake up – has been worth it. That moment, when you finally come across that large shadow in the water next to the line, and you know you are about to get the chance to get your hands dirty and grazed by dermal denticles in the name of shark science.

It’s now almost 5 am. I’m elbow deep in the warm waters of the Bahamas, holding the dorsal fin of a 3.3m female tiger shark to help collect scientific data. There is nowhere I would rather be.

 

 

I wrote this blog during my month-long stay at the Bimini Shark Lab at the start of 2017. Volunteering at the Shark Lab at the turning point onto my home-stretch of my 2016 Scholarship year was a truly epic opportunity to expose me to all things shark research, and this was a particular experience that I wanted to share as one of those career-defining “it’s 4am but shark research is more appealing than sleep right now” moments.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to Jeff and Missy Trotta for their help in connecting me with Shark Lab founder and pioneer shark scientist Dr. Samuel “Doc” Gruber to make this opportunity happen, as well as Shark Lab Director Dr. Tristan Guttridge and Lab Managers Ben, Ches, Shannon, James and Eugene (and shark lab dogs Sasha, Roger and Matthew) for having me! Also a big thank you to Shark Lab researchers Matt Smukall, Félicie Dhellemmes, and Vital Heim for taking the time to share so much insight (answer all my questions!) about your research, and letting me join for hands on experience in the field. Of course a big thanks to all of the awesome volunteers I had the pleasure of working with during my month stint, you are all wonderful friends and made the whole experience so much fun, I hope to see you all again!

Thank you so much to the Shark Lab family for having me!

Keep scrolling for more photo stories from my time at Bimini!

A sunrise snap from an early morning longline set. Longlines are set by the Shark Lab team for a 24 hour period, over which they are checked by smaller groups every couple hours, including in the middle of the night. Setting the longlines is a total team effort with all hands on deck to ensure a variety of tasks – including feeding line, clipping baited hooks and floats and recording data – all run smoothly, while the boat is moving at speed.

Research conducted by the Bimini Shark Lab has revealed the mangroves surrounding the islands to be an important nursery habitat for lemon sharks. Current research by Shark Lab Principle Investigator and PhD student Félicie Dhellemmes investigating shark personality involves tons of work in the field actively tracking acoustically tagged juvenile lemon sharks that live in these mangroves. Working in a small team, we take turns in shifts with a hydrophone in the water along a set GPS route around the mangroves listening for specifically coded acoustic transmitter “pings” to help us locate the tagged sharks.
The data collected by active acoustic tracking helps us to understand the movements of the individual sharks among the mangroves, as well as their movements with regards to each other (tagged sharks). Some days out tracking may be particularly quiet, with only one or two sharks picked up on the hydrophone, others you might hit the juvenile lemon jackpot! On one particular day out tracking, while listening to the hydrophone, I heard several individuals in one area. We stopped the boat, and assistant Lab Manager James pulled out the drone to give us an aerial visual of what we were hearing – the sharks appeared to be social, spending time with many others!
PhD researcher and Shark Lab Principle Investigator, Félicie Dhellemmes, giving a presentation about her research on shark personality to a visiting group of marine science students from Eckerd College in Florida.
Despite the name, the Bimini Shark Lab focuses research on a variety elasmobranchs found around the islands of Bimini, including a healthy population of Southern Sting Rays. Hiding in the sand near the mangroves, catching these rays to conduct research can be a tricky team task. Once caught, data is collected on the rays that will help us monitor and understand their population demographics and ecology in this area. Here, assistant lab manager James holds the stinging barb, while volunteer Sophie and I measure and take samples from this large female. These giant shark pancakes are incredibly beautiful to work with up close, and average around 1m in disc width/length! Photo by Eugene Kitseos.
Sunrise at Back Beach at the Shark Lab. Holding pens are set up near shore as semi-captive environments for juvenile sharks. Juvenile lemon and nurse sharks are kept for short periods of time where they are accessible for education purposes for visitors and students, as well as for behavioral observations in research experiments. If you’re open to the idea of death by sandflies, the serenity of Bimini is to die for!
How do we get said juvenile sharks into these pens? One of the most exciting tasks on offer for a Shark Lab volunteer is nurse shark wrangling! Nurse sharks spend their time living under rock ledges, and when small enough, are accessible for us to freedive down to collect. This particular shark was actually a sub-adult, over 1m long and far too large for us to wrangle, but made for a nice photo-op of the afternoon reef life 🙂
For size reference, this is a typical juvenile we would be looking for.
Fellow volunteer and wrangle buddy Emily searches under a ledge…
…And emerges successful!
Once back on the boat, the cookies** will be worked up in a tub of sea water where we scan for an ID tag (and insert if it is a new capture), take measurements and tissue samples for DNA and isotope analysis. One of the unique skills taught upon arrival to the Shark Lab is proper handling technique of juvenile sharks, which is essential for conducting research efficiently and minimizing stress to the animal. If the sharks are not needed in the pens, they are happily released and returned to their ledges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

** Juvenile nurse sharks often have small dark spots on their skin, earning them the name “cookies”… in case they weren’t cute enough already.

Not every day at the Shark Lab is spent freediving around with juvenile sharks. Some days, especially bad weather days, are spent looking at a screen wishing you were out in the water instead. An ongoing research project uses BRUVs (baited remote underwater video surveys) to investigate the shark and fish populations around Bimini. Despite sitting at a desk, reviewing BRUVs footage is a great chance to sharpen up Caribbean fish ID skills (useful for someone like me, being my first time in the Caribbean!)

To make up for some of the not-so-exhilarating tasks involved with being a Shark Lab volunteer… days off on Bimini aren’t too shabby. Bimini boasts a variety of charismatic marine life, including bottlenose dolphins and spotted eagle rays a few of us were lucky to enjoy in the crystal clear waters.
Even better, something Bimini is most famous for (apart from the Shark Lab), are its Great Hammerheads that call Bimini home during a seasonal migration over the winter months.
While there is still much to learn about these incredibly beautiful sharks, especially why they are in Bimini and what they are doing there, they are a valuable asset to The Bahamas huge shark diving industry. I was able to join a day out diving with Neal Watson’s Scuba Centre to see the Great Hammerheads very up close.
The Bimini Shark Lab works closely in collaboration with many local operators in the community of Bimini, and has recently teamed up with Neal Watson to investigate the effects of provisioning (feeding) on these sharks.
This project is the hard work of Masters researcher Vital Heim, who spends every single day underwater with the Bimini hammers, monitoring how much the individual sharks are provided with.
Great Hammerheads are generally considered a solitary species (compared to their schooling relatives, the Scalloped hammers), but on this dive, we can see up to 8-10 individuals, each of which have a unique name and can be recognized by Vital! Photo by Sean Williams – Neal Watson’s Scuba Centre.
While this project is in its first season, research like this is particularly important to ensure that this dive industry will continue as sustainably as possible, without influencing the ecology, habits and movements of the sharks.
And finally, perhaps the pinnacle of any volunteer time of a “SharkLabber”… that moment you catch a tiger on a long line. While this was not during the middle of the night, as per the story above, this moment was still a huge highlight of my time at the Lab. While most longlines at the lab are set in shallow waters, I was lucky to be part of a team hauling up a “deep line” – set in over 300m of water in the Gulf Stream. These deep lines not only are a great chance to survey species that frequent the deeper waters, such as dusky smooth hound and night sharks, the deep lines are where we have a good chance to catch and conduct research on large tiger sharks. I’m so grateful to have had the chance to join the team to catch their largest ever male tiger shark (nearly 4m). Thanks to media manager Eugene Kitseos for capturing the moment!
Share