Post-Shark Week Progress: basking shark taggings and California's AB376

Now that Discovery Channel's Shark Week has concluded and the entertainment frenzy that surrounds it has subsided, we all can get back to some serious-minded steps in research and policy to advance our understanding and conservation of these animals. Here are a couple of recent developments:

Basking Shark Tagging in Monterey
With each new study on sharks, scientists learn a little more about the wonderful world of sharks, but there are still some species that are shrouded in mystery. Take the basking shark, the second largest of all sharks, next to the whale shark, and one not to be feared as it is a filter feeder like baleen whales.

Preferring cold water, the basking shark has been studied in the North Atlantic, but limited studies have taken place in the Pacific. The Pelagic Shark Research Foundation has just started a more detailed tagging program in and around Monterey Bay, CA, utilizing satellite tracking tags that have been successfully used on other species like great white sharks. To date, only basic number/color identification tags have been used. With the use of an archival satellite tag - which can store various position, depth, and speed data for later retrieval via satellite - the foundation can accumulate more detailed and accurate data as to the movements of basking sharks.

Sean Van Sommeran, founder and director of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, describes the basking shark as "elusive" and, as they are recognized as threatened, are considered "commercially extinct."

Working in conjunction with Stanford University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Van Sommeran's foundation has tagged one sub-adult basking shark at around 15 to 16 feet in length and plans to tag more.

California's AB376 Anti-Shark Fin Bill Advances
This Monday, California's Assembly Bill 376, which prohibits sale, possession, and distribution of shark fins - much like legislation already passed in Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington - will take the next step on its way to a final vote. The bill will go before the Senate Appropriations Committee and for many of the bill's supporters, the big issue here is whether there will be any amendments tacked on to the legislation that will weaken it and provide loopholes for commercial operations to continue.

You can support and participate in various efforts being staged by a variety of shark advocate groups - Sea Stewards, based in San Francisco, is planning a bus ride tomorrow to Sacramento to make a physical presence in support of AB376. However, one of the best ways to make your voice heard is through direct communication to the members of the committee. Sea Stewards has provided a listing of the members' email addresses and sample email content.

senator.kehoe@sen.ca.gov,

Senator.Alquist@SENATE.CA.GOV,

senator.runner@sen.ca.gov,

senator.price@sen.ca.gov,

senator.walters@sen.ca.gov,

senator.lieu@sen.ca.gov,

senator.alquist@sen.ca.gov,

Senator.Pavley@senate.ca.gov

Dear Senators,

I urge you to vote for AB 376 without amendments. Scientists have testified that the suggested amendment to allow shark fins from domestic fisheries cannot be enforced and will lead to increased fishing pressure on domestic sharks and allow black market fins to enter the market.

Also, the MSC certification of fins is not a viable option. To date there has not been a well managed and sustainable shark fishery. Focused shark fisheries lead to collapse of the population. Sharks are vital for ecosystem health.

For these reasons please support this bill as written.
sincerely,

There are some powerful forces at work in opposition to AB376 that have pulled out all the stops to amend, if not defeat the bill, using accusations of anti-Asian sentiments or lost commercial and state revenue. It's getting down to the wire and the lobbyists will be playing hardball on both sides. Let your sentiments be heard by the elected officials - oddly enough, in this world of ineffectual politics, it can make a difference.

Read about basking shark tagging in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Read about AB376 and what you can do at SeaStewards.org.

Ireland's Basking Sharks: a high percentage of a rare species

As a follow up to my post on wobbegong shark behavior: researchers in Ireland are studying their resident populations of basking sharks and, as with the wobbegong studies, are able to draw conclusions on changing environmental conditions based on changes in animal behavior.

At the 14th European Elasmobranch Association conference held in Galway, Ireland, marine biologists and shark experts from across Europe gathered to discuss the state of shark populations and consider new research techniques to better understand the fate and future of sharks and rays worldwide. Irish researchers who have been working with Ireland's National Parks and Wildlife Service, presented their study which indicated that a high percentage of the remaining number of basking sharks move through Ireland's local waters.

Basking sharks are typically a cold water species and the second largest fish on the planet, topped only by the whale shark. Like the whale shark, the basking shark is a filter feeder, opening its cavernous mouth to strain hundreds of gallons of water, searching for zooplankton - a collection of tiny creatures including larval or minute juvenile forms of fish, mollusks, and crustaceans. Zooplankton are sensitive to changes in the aquatic environment, such as temperature changes due to global warming or changes in oxygen levels or pH, which can occur in response to acidification. Where the zooplankton go, so go the basking sharks.

“Tracking basking sharks may be far more effective than tracking zooplankton, and [may] provide one of the best indicators of the health of our seas and thus the planet,” said Dr. Simon Berrow, the study's group leader.

Extensive tracking of basking sharks has taken place off of Ireland, replacing the intense hunting that used to occur as the basking shark was prized for its sizable supply of shark oil. Worldwide estimates of basking shark populations have been placed as low as 20,000. Extrapolating population estimates from the 250 sharks that have been tagged, the study claimed that there are probably several thousand that frequent the cold waters off Ireland's coast, making the island nation a prime location and home for an increasingly rare shark species.

Read about the research in Irishtimes.com.

Basking Shark: NOAA's "species of concern" designation is a warning flag

NOAA, the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, took a slightly unusual step by declaring the eastern North Pacific's basking shark a "species of concern." While it sounds a bit like a suspect in an unsolved homicide, what the designation actually does is recognize that the basking sharks that migrate along the coast from Canada to the central coast of California are not recovering in numbers as expected since the taking of basking sharks commercially was curtailed in the 1970s.

Basking sharks, which are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List but not yet eligible for protection under the U.S.'s Endangered Species Act, are typically cold water, plankton-feeders and quite spectacular to see. Reaching lengths of up to 40 feet, they cruise near the surface with their cavernous mouth agape, filtering plankton and other small organisms. They pose no threat to humans but the reverse is certainly not the case.

Basking sharks have been hunted in the past - sometimes for meat, sometimes because they disrupt the salmon fisheries. Though now protected from deliberately being taken, they can still get caught in fishing nets or struck by vessels as they cruise the surface.

The importance of a government scientific agency taking a step like this is that it essentially greases the wheels for marine scientists to consider the basking shark as a study subject. With NOAA's acknowledged concern, the designation can assist scientists in seeking funding for research projects.

"But why should we fund your study of this shark? It's not exactly endangered is it?" "No, not yet. But NOAA feels sufficiently concerned enough to give it this designation as a warning that steps need to be taken to avoid endangering the animal further. And to know just what those steps should be, we need research. Funded research."

The basking shark - a shark that once schooled by the hundreds in decades past, now only seen a few at a time. If at all. NOAA is taking the commendable step of raising a flag. And they plan to do more. A website will be launched in December for scientists and the public alike to report sightings. In the meantime, you can report sightings by calling 858-334-2884 or send an email to Heidi.Dewar@noaa.gov.

Read more about NOAA's announcement in ScienceNews.
Read more about basking sharks at NOAA's website.