Catching up

The last few weeks have been pretty busy with other field projects and travel but also with some exciting developments on the Keny whale shark tagging project. I dragged into San Diego on 4 March after two long days of travel home from Mombasa. Two days later I headed out to San Nicolas Island and then San Miguel Island in Southern California waters to count northern elephant seal pups and then tag a couple thousand weaned pups to finish off the 2008 breeding season studies. San Nicolas Island is a U.S. Naval outlying landing field and tracking station and San Miguel Island is just north about 60 miles and is one of the five islands in the Channel Islands National Park. It was a wonderful expedition with some incredibly fine weather and also some not so fine weather with strong winds and pelting sand. After coming back home from those trips on 18 March I headed back east on 21 March with Dr. Pamela Yochem, HSWRI Senior Research Biologist and Executive Vice President, to participate in a panel on careers with animals and conservation at the annual National Science Teachers Association meeting in Boston, Massachussetts. Just got back home late last night and now will have some time in the office this week at least to catch up on reports and accumulated things.
But just as I was returning from Kenya, two pop-up satellite transmitters appeared just north of Kenya, drifted for a little bit and then looked like they got stranded on the coastal reef or perhaps on the beach. I started sending the geographic coordinates of those tags to Nimu Njonjo and Volker Bassen at Diani Beach, hoping that we might be able to recover the tags, download all of the stored data, and then rehabilitate the tags for additional deployment next season. One of those tags was one that we attached to a whale shark off Diani Beach in February 2007, so we are waiting to learn all of the stored secrets on where that shark had travelled during the past year. The other tag we had just attached to a whale shark off Diani Beach in mid-Februray this year. It may have detached because the shark had spent several days at a relatively constant depth, a programmed release feature of the tag. Nimu and Volker sent David French and Simon Wanjonah up to the northern Mombasa coast for a search and recovery mission....they had quite and adventure with this but found both tags (!) and they have now arrived to San Diego where I am preparing to send them to Microwave Telemetry for data recovery and rehabilitation. Simon describes their beachcombing adventures at http://whalesharks.wildlifedirect.org/

Until next time,
bs

Final effort, a magnificant day; 2 March

The past two days have been a bit frustrating spending much time on the water and a lot of hard work in the air by Rob and Peter. But today helped dissipate all of that. We headed out at around 1030hrs on fairly calm seas and winds; four boats with about 42 whale shark enthusiats on board. What started out pretty quietly worked quickly into a fully eventful day. Rob located several sharks in succession...we missed the first one but then tagged the second followed by a brief lull in the action. The next shark encountered was reserved for snorklers and then as the shark accelerated and started diving after about a half hour of snorklers following we were able to tag it. That was followed by a couple more sightings and then a third shark that we tagged first, then relocated, and put several groups of snorklers in to follow above it for a bit. Lots of jellies, including some small Portuguese men-of-war made the following stimulating for a number of the snrklers and we sent one boat in with a couple of sting vicitms of concern.. Then tagged a third one and stuck with it long enough to get more snorklers in the water briefly.
A tremendously wonderful end to a magically productive expedition......17 sharks tagged with the satellite linked data recorders and transmitted. The next step will be their release and data reporting in either 9 months (November/early December) or 12 months (next February and March). Packing up now and will head to the airport in Mombasa in the morning for travel home to San Diego.

bs

Winding down in Watamu, gearing up for Diani Beach again: 29 February

This post evidently did not get published on Friday.....our server was down for a bit on Friday and Saturday so that might be why, but here it is again in any event.

29 February 2008

Last couple of days have been long and busy. Out mid-morning on Thursday and Friday...surveyd until around 1530 hrs on Thursday with water clarity improving and winds light. Rob and David in the microlight on Thursday and Lynne substituted for David on Friday. We had a shorter day on Friday to allow us to pack up and drive back south to Diani and also owing to change in weather early Friday afternoon...water clarity was even better on Friday and visibility ca 20-25 m revealing tremendous diversity and number of fish and jellies and also moderated densities of fish eggs and larve and coral spawn. Lots of green turtles spotted both days, several giant mantas on Thursday and one giant manta on Friday.....but no whale sharks spotted on either day. So total whale sharks tagged for the past 11 days still stands at 14 (4 at Watamu and 10 at Diani), an excellent number for the effort and conditions.We arrived back to Diani Beach Friday evening after rather long haul through Mombasa and began unpacking and reorganizing for the final push today and tomorrow. A tremendous thanks to Hemingway's Resort (especially Garry Cullen and Dicky Evans) and Aqua Venture (especially Steve and Helen Curtis) for their wonderful and warm hospitality and support while we were in Watamu!We'll be out on the water by around 1030hrs this morning with Peter Zinetti (with David from KWS spotting) surveying in the fixed wing and Rob Dodson (with Simon from EAWST spotting) in the ultralight.bs

Last days

We had another long day on the water yesterday with two boats full of hopeful whale shark watchers from around 1030hrs through 1600hrs. Good weather conditions all day with winds picking up from east and southeast (kusi winds) in the afternoon. Rob spotted one whale shark just after taking off near the outer reef but it was elusive in murky water and headed directly offshore and deep just as we arrived to try to jump in for tagging. Peter Zinetti was up in the Cessna for several hours to help Rob in his microlight for spotting. A second shark was spotted mid-afternoon but it used the same disappearing act to evade us. We were able to spend some time with a group of about a dozen bottlenose dolphins that included several young of the year.

Today is our last effort before I head back to San Diego tomorrow so we're hopeful that we'll put one too more tags out today. The weather looks great this morning and Rob and Peter will both be in the air again to allow exhaustive aerial surveying.

bs

27 February 2008

Today was another long day but an excellent one. Two sharks sighted, both tagged. Total tagged in 3 days at Watamu = 4; total for the past 9 days = 14 -bs

26 February 2008

Long day but two sharks spotted late afternoon as microlight running was low on fuel. One located near Watamu Beach and tagged around 1530hrs. Brings total tagged to 12. We will go out again at 1030hrs tomorrow morning and will stay out as long as conditions and fuel allow. -bs

25 February 2008

Jambo, Jambo!
Had another good day yesterday, especially with far better weather. We launched at around 1100hrs in the Melia with our small tagging crew of Volker and I and also 21 hopeful whale shark snorklers. Also two other boats (Unique and Tinga Tanga) following behind. Seas and winds were very mild but they picked up a bit just after noon. Mike spotted one shark pretty far south of Chales Island and in deeper blue water at around 1230hr. We headed that way and soon found it...put the snorklers in first and then after several tries to get close to it afterwards we were able to tag it. No other sharks seen there or enroute back to Kinondo until Mike ran low on fuel and landed for the day at around 1430hrs. So, total tagged is now 10.

Soon after arriving back at Pinewood we (Nimu, Volker, David and I) packed up and hit the road in Nimu's Landcruiser to head north to Watamu. Arrived around 2000hrs at Hemingway's Resort and had a brief meeting and planning session with Garry Cullen, the managing director of the resort which is sponsoring our stay, and Steve Curtis, who runs a recreational diving business in Watamu and is supporting our tagging efforts with boats. Rob Dodsen also just arrived......Rob is providing aerial spotting support in his microlight. Tomorrow morning we head out to begin the search around Watamu.

bs

24 February 2008

Jambo! Yesterday was a challenging day for finding and tagging sharks. We went out in the Melia at around 0830hr with a small group of divers...headed several miles south past Chales Island to a spot known as Zig-Zag. Winds were already blowing about 10-12 kts from the north and surface was a bit rough. Solid overcast made aerial sighting tough too. After one drift dive we bobbed and drifted for a bit while Mike and Simon flew transects looking for sharks. Nothing seen so we motored slowly back to Kinondo and Pinewood village and were just about to turn into the lagoon when one of Volkers fishing boat charters spotted a whale shark a couple of miles further out from the reef. We headed that way and radioed Mike to liftoff again to help locate. The shark was elusive and we weren't able to find it again, but on Mike's way back to the beach to land he spotted one just outside of the reef. We quickly located it, Volker and I got in the water and were able to quickly tag it. I followed behind the shark as it swam slowly offshore along the bottom while snorklers on the boat got ready to jump in, but it disappeared into the murk. We searched a bit longer but soon had to return to the beach to prepare for the 2d afternoon sorty.
We had a quick pizza lunch and then headed out with a new group of hopeful snorklers and whale shark watching enthusiasts. Weather had picked up by 1330hr when we exited the lagoon and continued south again.....winds now around 18 to 20kts and 3-5 foot swells got everyone gripping hard to the boat and getting pretty wet. Mike and David French got up in the air right away and started looking over a broad area from Pinewood south to past Chales Island. After several hours of searching we turned back north to head in. Mike radioed just then that he and David were circling a shark just off Pinewood and just seaward of the reef. They stayed with the shark, but it took us about an hour to reach the spot. We finally got there and approached the shark closely...everyone got ready to get in but it moved offshore along the bottom and we lost track of it. After that we looked a bit more but headed in and landed around 1700hrs. A long day for everyone, but success in tagging one more shark bringing total to 9 tagged in 4 days.
Today we'll have one trip out at mid-day. The weather looks much better.....calm early this morning and clear. We'll hit the road towards Watamu late this afternoon and then hope to start tagging tomorrow morning.

A Fantastic Day!

Photo: Dr. Brent Stewart boarding a gyrocopter in search of whale sharks.

Today was a fantastic day! It started out early with a 0730 takeoff with Mike Cheffings in his gyrocopter for a one-hour survey of the coast looking for whale sharks. Did not see any whale sharks but lots of other things including giant manta rays, green turtles, and bottlenose dolphins. We headed out on the boat, "Melia," at around 1030 and returned to the beach at around 1430hrs. Mike and David (Kenya Wildlife Service collaborator) spotted two whale sharks to the south near Chale Island and Volker Bassen and I got in and quickly tagged both and took some underwater video. Most of the passengers also got in to swim near them for a little while. Winds picked up and we headed back into them but got a big surprise about five minutes away from Aqualand Watersports and Pinewood Village where we work out of. Ran past another whale shark at the surface, turned around quickly and were able to tag that one too. So, three tags out for the day and eight sharks tagged so far. Next two days will be busy with two sorties each day before we pack up and drive up to Watamu. -bs

Kenya Whale Shark Tagging Expedition

Dr. Brent Stewart began a collaboration with the East African Whale Shark Trust (EAWST) in 2005 to study the ecology of whale sharks along the Kenyan coast. In February 2007 the collaborative team, including Volker Bassen and Nimu Njonjo of EAWST, tagged three whale sharks with pop-up archival satellite-linked data recorders and transmitters. The tags released from one of those sharks in May 2007 in Tanzanian waters and from another in July 2007 in Somalian waters. The third is scheduled to release in later this month.

Dr. Stewart returned to Kenya earlier this month and the collaborative research team began tagging sharks along Diani Beach in southern Kenya on 19 February. His report of this field expedition begins below:

I arrived in Mombassa, from San Diego, mid-day on 18 February and rendezvoused with the rest of the research team from the EAWST later that afternoon in Diani Beach. We began search and tagging efforts mid-morning the next day.

Since then we have been ablet to locate and tag two whale sharks on the 19th, one on the 20th, and two on the 21st, so have now deployed 5 of the available 19 tags, including 4 that were sponsored by Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and 15 that were sponsored by conservation groups at Watamu, just south of Malindi, Kenya. The Pinewood Village is generously hosting me at their fine resort hotel in southern Diani Beach and Hemingway's Resort will host me and Volker Bassen when we travel to Watamu on Sunday (24th February) to tag in that area. Aqualand watersports, next to Pinewood Village, is supporting our project with boats and fuel and the EAWST board of trustees and others have generously contributed to help with fuel for the planes too. Project AWARE has again helped support my travel from the US to Kenya, and Kenya Airways has helped arrange discount tickets from London to Mombasa.

As last year, Peter Zinetti is helping with aerial support and spotting in a Cessna single-engine fixed wing aircraft. Michael Cheffings of Bateleur Safaris Ltd. has brought his gyrocopter down from Nairobi and has been flying daily surveys to help locate and efficiently direct us to whale sharks along the coral reef that runs just offshore Diani Beach and most of coastal Kenya. We also are lucky to have an excellent spotter from the Kenya Wildlife Service help us during the aerial surveys.

The sighting conditions have not been ideal during these past three days but, nonetheless, we have been able to do exceptionally well in tagging sharks. There has been a tremendous amount of interest in our project this year and several newspaper and television journalists have visited and accompanied us on the surveys. On Friday (22d) we will continue the efforts with a mid-morning departure and mid-afternoon return, and on Saturday and Sunday we do additional afternoon surveys. On Sunday (24th) we will travel to Watamu for several days and then return to Diani Beach on the 29th to finish deploying any tags still left then. -bs