Achievement Report Curieuse February 2017

Report Title

Finding home: The first acoustic tagging of a sicklefin lemon shark at Curieuse Marine
National Park, Seychelles.

Objectives

Increase scientific knowledge and interest for Curieuse Island through conservation
research, community education and tourist awareness.
o Increase scientific knowledge and baseline data on the health of ecosystems on Cu-
rieuse Island.
Continue to collect data on the flora and fauna of Curieuse Island.
Provide project partners with an ongoing assessment of the health of ecosys-
tems and flora and fauna of Curieuse Island.

Build local capacity to support long-term conservation of biodiversity and sustainable commu-
nity development in Seychelles.
o Provide training and practical field experience for nationals in a variety of research
areas.
Summary

This month, our team has undertaken the first-ever acoustic tracking of a juvenile
sicklefin lemon shark at Curieuse Marine National Park. A great deal of hard work and
patience among staff, volunteers, and our partners has paid off and we are now collecting
data to provide an estimate of critical habitat for juveniles of this species within the
Marine National Park. GVI staff, volunteers, interns, and our partners have been working
together, learning new skills, and collecting exciting and valuable new information that
will further inform the management of this species using the best available science.

Report

This February, the team at Curieuse Marine National Park began an exciting and important
mission: to determine where the juvenile sicklefin lemon sharks of Curieuse call home.
Understanding the critical habitat of a species is vital to any conservation efforts and
management actions. Put simply, critical habitat represents the areas and environments in
which an animal spends the majority of its
time. Collecting this type of information on a
wild shark is no easy task; however, we were
more than ready for the challenge. The theory
behind the active tracking of a shark is
relatively simple; you implant an acoustic tag
into a shark, and then follow it around with a
hydrophone and receiver to track its
movements. Easy, right?

The active tracking of sharks requires a number of components: dedicated people, a

healthy shark of suitable size, surgical equipment, an ultrasonic acoustic tag, receiver,
hydrophone, a boat, and a great deal of patience. At 05:00 on February 9th, with all of our
equipment and eager team at the ready, we went out in search of sharks within the Baie
Laraie mangrove forest and adjacent seagrass bed. After fishing for hours with gill and
seine nets, we came out empty-handed. This wasnt particularly surprising, as a low

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number of juvenile sharks are caught at this time of year compared to peak reproductive
season over October and November. We werent discouraged, though after two more early
morning sessions went by without a shark, we began to wonder when we would finally
begin tracking.

Then at 05:53 on February 16th - as our American volunteer Kalina and Science Co-
ordinator Pete were silently holding a gill net in waist-deep water, it was on. A shark
suddenly thrashed wildly in the net next to Kalina. Unflinchingly, she remembered her
training, flicked up her headlamp and scooped up the flailing elasmobranch with precision
whilst shouting LEMON! our teams call for a landed shark which was met with much
cheering from shore through the darkness.

The shark was immediately scanned

for a tag, which revealed that she
had been caught 3 times prior. With
her measurements taken, she was
then flipped upside-down in a
trough full of water. Pete could now
begin with his first-ever surgery on
a living animal. Having been trained
by renowned local biologist Dr. Jude
Bijou in the surgical implantation of
acoustic tags in sharks, he was
confident in his abilities. The team
watched closely as Pete made an
incision just under the pectoral fins and slipped the acoustic tag about the size of an AA
battery inside the body cavity, and then quickly completed the sutures to close the
wound. Following a quick signal check of the tag, the shark was ready for release.

The shark was observed in a small sea pen before

being released into the wild. Excited interns
were immediately trained in the use of the
tracking equipment, and we were pleased to
locate our shark - now named Kalina - swimming
gracefully with an acoustic tag pinging away
inside.

This exciting project has even attracted young SNPA rangers

Dwayne and Gino to join us on nearly every tracking session,
where they have been learning valuable skills and insight
alongside our interns related to the park that we all aim to
protect. Our staff and interns have also taken this
opportunity to learn from the rangers as well, taking in
Creole names and local knowledge about the numerous
marine species we encounter during tracking sessions.

Since the tag implantation, Kalina has been tracked regularly within Baie Laraie and has
increased in weight in a subsequent capture. This data, along with the sharks we tag in
the future, will help provide an estimate of critical habitat for juveniles of this species
within Curieuse Marine National Park. Critical habitat estimates will allow our partners,
the Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA), to manage this population using the best
available science.

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