Using acoustic telemetry monitoring techniques to quantity movement patterns and site fidelity of sharks and giant trevally around French frigate shoals and midway atoll

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2-1-2006

Abstract

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) host a variety of large vertebrate animals including seabirds, green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), Hawaiian monk seals (Monanchus schauislandi), and large teleost fish such as trevally (Family Carangidae) and several species of sharks. The air-breathing vertebrates have been the subjects of relatively continuous and well-funded research programs over the past several decades, and many aspects of their biology in the NWHI have been documented fairly well. However, studies directed at understanding the biology and ecology of large teleost fishes and sharks in the NWHI have lagged substantially behind research conducted on birds, turtles and seals. In the summer of 2000, an array of autonomous acoustic receivers was deployed at French Frigate Shoals (FFS) in the NWHI as part of a project investigating the movement patterns of tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) within the atoll, particularly in relation to the high seasonal abundance of potential prey (birds, turtles, seals). Shortly after the establishment of the initial array of monitors in 2000, additional monitors were deployed in an effort to monitor the movements of Galapagos sharks (Carcharhinus galapagensis) at FFS, particularly at locations where monk seal pups had been preyed upon by these sharks. The scope of the monitoring study was further expanded to Midway Atoll during summer of 2001 to monitor movements of Galapagos sharks near seal haul-out beaches and to examine survivorship and behavior of giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis) captured and released in a commercial sport fishing operation conducted within the Midway National Wildlife Refuge. For each study, experimental animals were captured and surgically fitted with long-life, individually-coded acoustic transmitters. During nearly 4 years of acoustic monitoring at FFS and 2 years of monitoring at Midway, a total of over 45,000 detections of sharks and fish with transmitters were recorded on acoustic monitors. These data enable an assessment of long-term movement patterns of these large predators within the NWHI. Each species investigated demonstrated somewhat repeated and predictable behavioral patterns that provide a basis for improved understanding of determinants of behavior and for enhanced management of these animals and prey (birds, seals, turtles) with which they may interact.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

Atoll Research Bulletin

Issue

543

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