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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