Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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
Sunday, February 24, 2008
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
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
Saturday, February 23, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, February 22, 2008
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
Thursday, February 21, 2008
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.
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
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