Sharks
Everywhere!!! We arrived on the West
Flower Garden Bank on Tuesday at
0700. We already knew that there
were no buoys available, so we were
prepared to set one. Neil Baltz
jumped in to look for pin number 2,
but was unsuccessful. We set the
buoy on pin number 5, but the
divemasters were constantly buzzed
by a 12 foot tiger shark. The divers
made three dives and recovered the
data storage device, as well as the
Manta Ray/Whale Shark Acoustic
receiver, and new instruments were
set. The acoustic receivers showed
that we have resident Mantas (there
will be a name the Manta contest for
schoolchildren) that move between
all 3 banks. One Manta tagged on
Stetson in 2006 has visited East and
West Banks within the past two weeks
Another individual tagged on East
Bank in 2006 visited West and came
back to East over the period of
three weeks in 2006. Another Manta
tagged on East in 2006 visited West,
but did not return. Acoustic
receivers may be deployed on Bright
Bank and Sonnier Bank to see if
these individuals visit those other
locations. The acoustic receivers
are provided by the
Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS), and the Manta/Whale Shark
Acoustic tagging project is funded
by WCS and NOAA. Rachel Graham (rgraham@wcs.org)
is the point of contact for the WCS.
Tag sponsorships, receiver
sponsorships, and Manta/Whale Shark
naming rights are available through
this project. Contact us for more
information.
Anyway, the water temp on the West
Bank was 68 degrees F, current was
about a knot, visibility was about
60 feet. The only big critters of
note were the Manta and the Tiger
Shark.
Wednesday morning we moved over to
the East bank where the Nuclear Sub
NR-1 was conducting operations in
the deeper water near the East bank.
We set up on EFG#4, and here came
the hammerheads. Many were sighted
in small schools of 3-5 individuals,
one school of about 25 Mobula rays,
1 Manta, 3 eagle rays, 2 tiger
sharks, and a Nassau grouper (second
sighting ever for the FGB) were
seen. I got in the water in my new
drysuit and hung out with a large (3
foot) female loggerhead turtle. She
wanted me. They all do. Visibility
was about 40 feet, temp was about
68, the current was zippy at ½ to ¾
of a knot, but all of the springtime
critters we brave spring to see were
there for the seeing. Oh, yeah. Seas
have been about 2 feet the entire
trip.
We arrived at Stetson at
1900 on Thursday evening. No night
dive, so we got ready for diving at
0700 Friday. During the tie-in, the
divemaster was buzzed by 4-6
individual tiger sharks, and they
escorted him back to the boat. Many
individuals of unknown species of
shark were sighted by the scientists
during the course of the dive. The
Manta Ray/Whale shark acoustic
receiver was recovered, and it was
determined that no tagged
individuals had visited Stetson Bank
close enough to the receiver to be
counted. Conclusions were also drawn
by the conch research team. Although
all conchs were wiped off of Stetson
Bank during Hurricane Rita, some
have crawled back to the top of the
bank. Three tagged individuals were
sighted, as well as 3 adolescent,
untagged individuals. They were
tagged and released. Water temp was
68 degrees, seas 2-3 feet, midwater
current ½ knot, slack on the bottom,
lots of sharks, but no hammerheads
on Stetson.
Captain Frank
M/V Spree |
