AfricanDiver.com

Images provided by Ocean Messengers NGO

We received these images of an event that took place in the Port Elizabeth harbour on the 4 February. We will hopefully have more information on these images in the next day or two.

On Saturday morning (2 Jan) about 7km north of Cape Vidal in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park two whale sharks, one 5m and the other 6.5m, were found having beached themselves. One had no signs of any injuries but the second had a lump on its head and an old wound on its caudal fin.

This has been seen as a natural occurrence according to iSimangaliso park CEO Andrew Zaloumis, he stated that along the park shores 10 whale sharks a year are found beached.

“While there is much speculation as to why whale sharks beach themselves, the actual reason is not known,” he said.
Even though Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife marine staff and holidaymakers tried to move the whales back into the water they sadly couldn’t and both the whale sharks died.

Last week a whale shark measuring 6.5m also beached itself just north of Leven Point in iSimangaliso.

Zaloumis said the beached animals were measured, photographs were taken and the dorsal fins were removed and sent to the KZN Sharks Board for its monitoring and research programmes.

Click here for source

We were lucky to meet Matt Potenski who came from Mafia Island to visit us during the expedition. He has sent the following report and pictures showing the work he has done in Mafia. Rachel our scientist from the WCS gave him some receivers and tags to put out so that we can all work together. It is a very exciting start for Mafia as you will read below!! Many thanks for the info Matt - at least we now know where all the sharks are!!!

EAWST Blog – Cooperation with Tanzania

To all the EAWST friends, greetings from Tanzania. My name is Matthew D Potenski, and I run a research program on whale sharks in Mafia Island, Tanzania. Over the last few years, some data has been collected to suggest that whale sharks may use areas of both Kenya and Tanzania. This year I had the pleasure to come up to Kenya to meet with members of the EAWST and head out into the field with Dr. Rachel Graham. Upon discussion with both Dr. Graham and the EAWST, we were able to look at some data and agree to collaborate on projects in the future. In that vein, I have just completed my season of field research at Mafia, and have a number of interesting things to report.

Last year I made observations of a tagged shark off Mafia Island. This is not remarkable as I tag the sharks there, but this shark had a tag that was not like the ones I put out. After some effort, I was able to remove enough algae from the tag to decipher a number. The tag read K001, and I rightly guessed that the tag’s origin was in Kenya. I contacted members of the EAWST and they confirmed that it was a tag they put out. In the past few months, I have re-sighted this shark numerous times. At the last count, I have encountered this shark six times over a span of three weeks. All the sightings have been made in the waters immediately to the west of Mafia Island. Shark K001 was seen on January 27th and 29th, and February 1st, 2nd, 9th, and 23rd. The identification of this shark was confirmed by spot-pattern analysis. Please see below for a spot ID picture taken of shark K001 on January 27th.

I am also happy to report that in cooperation with the EAWST and Dr. Graham, I have been able to deploy automated telemetry equipment at Mafia Island.

This means that Tanzania has joined with Madagascar, Mozambique, and Kenya in forming acoustic arrays for whale shark detection. On March 20th-22nd I managed to deploy the eight transmitters I received from Dr. Graham. Seven male sharks ranging from 3-6.5 meters and one 5m female were fitted with a Vemco V16 acoustic transmitter.

On the 23rd, a small team helped me deploy two Vemco VR2W acoustic receivers. This involved diving on scuba and pounding iron bars into the sand. We then attached the units both to the bars and to 150 kg cement blocks as a preventative measure. There is some net fishing in the area where these receivers are located and the cement block should be heavy enough to keep the units from being pulled up in a net.

The important point is that the deployment of this equipment is completely reciprocal with transmitters and receivers deployed by the EAWST. This automated telemetry equipment may give further insights into the actual amount of migration by whale sharks between Kenya and Tanzania. Sharks tagged with transmitters in one location can be detected by receivers in another location. The actual residence time or amount of time a whale shark spends in a location with each receiver will be measured. This means that data on both local movements and migrations between receiver arrays can be collected. The receivers will spend several months in the water before they are retrieved and their data downloaded. I know I am very excited to see what data we will be able to get with this technology, and I look forward to comparing data with the EAWST so that we can get a more accurate picture of the behavioral patterns of whale sharks in East Africa.

Special thanks to Volker, Nimu, and all the volunteers at the EAWST and to Dr. Rachel Graham of the Wildlife Conservation Society for their friendship and support. I look forward to more whale sharks in both Kenya and Tanzania in 2010.

Senegal, the Maldives, Dahab and Sodwana Bay; all parts of Africa and its surrounding islands that feature in this issue of African Diver. The Moving Sushi expedition alerts us to the serious state of Senegal’s fisheries and Christopher Bartlett reminds us of the perilous state of the ocean’s shark stocks. Rowan Duvel lightens the mood with his article on freediving with Mantas in the Maldives while Morten Villadsen enthrals us with his experiences of freediving the Blue Hole in Dahab. Paul Hunter takes us on a personal visit to Sodwana Bay and DAN advises on altitude diving. Enjoy this fourth issue and don’t forget to visit our blog.

As promised here are some pictures of the whale shark tagging expedition 2009. This is the microlight.

This is the flight crew. Alexis is the pilot and he is in the middle, his girlfriend Emma and Chris the cameraman on either side of him. The team fly for 3 - 4 hours per day and do an amazing job helping us!

This is the boat we used called Melia (daughter of Neptune). It belongs to Southern Cross Scuba. SXS has several dive bases, one of which is at Aqualand Watersports Centre next to Pinewood Village Hotel on Galu Kinondo beach where we meet each morning at 10am.

And here are the lucky people swimming with the biggest fish on the planet! An experience you will never forget

We have circled the shark for you. They are not as easy to spot as you think! Best is when they are swimming over a sandy patch like in the picture here.

Meet Bumble, adopted by Peter and Philipa Gibbon, Kenya’s first acoustically tagged shark. May he bumble on peacefully for many years to come and enjoy a long and happy life.

It is the start of a new week and we hope we will see more sharks than we did last week! The sightings have been very poor with no sharks seen for 6 days. We don’t really know why but we suspect it may be due to the unsettled weather we have been experiencing. The sea is a lot rougher than it should be at this time of year and the wind direction keeps changing. Climate-wise nothing is really as it should be but then isn’t that true of so many parts of the world these days.

Despite the disappointing number of sharks, we remain positive. We will keep trying and the huge numbers of people interested in our work keeps us motivated. We have had full boats every day. The media interest has been immense and we have 4 different film crews in the past few days. Reuters, AP, KTN and The Standard have all covered the expedition.

Last night the film crew from Australia and our lead scientist Dr Rachel Graham arrived. We are set for a good weeks worth of work here in Diani. If we don’t see sharks here, we will move the expedition further north where there have been sightings.

We are carrying out the longest and most coherent aeriel survey ever to be done for whale sharks in Kenya. Whatever happens we will learn something and continue to work hard for whale shark conservation in Kenya.

This week the boat is booked exclusively for the Australian film crew to film for their documentary. We are so excited that they are here! Volker gets the opportunity to work alongside one of the top underwater videographers in the world. From Friday the boat is fully booked over the weekend and the last weekend of the expedition is almost fully booked as well. We continue to be amazed and encouraged by the number of people who come and support our work. We are determined and 110% committed to see it through.

I will keep you posted as the week progresses.