Effects of a COVID‐19 lockdown‐induced pause and resumption of artificial provisioning on blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and pink whiprays (Pateobatis fai) in French Polynesia (East‐Pacific)

Abstract

The tourism activities linked to artificial provisioning of blacktip reef sharks ( Carcharhinus melanopterus ) and pink whiprays ( Pateobatis fai ) on a specific site in French Polynesia were suddenly and completely stopped due to a COVID‐19 lockdown that lasted 6 weeks from March 20 until April 30, 2020. Using both drone footage and underwater counting, we were able to track the abundance of those two species before, during, and after reopening and thus investigate the impact of provisioning on wild shark populations. The absence of any stimulus during this long period resulted in almost total desertion of the site by the elasmobranchs. However, 1 day prior to reopening, some individuals of both species positively reacted to the single acoustic stimulus of an engine boat, showing the resilience of conditioning, and some elasmobranchs reacted to acoustic and olfactive stimuli linked to the provisioning practice from the first day after reopening. During the first 2 weeks after reopening, the abundance of both species remained at reduced levels comparable to those observed between 2008 and 2010 for sharks; i.e., around 9 animals in the presence of local tourists. Pre‐lockdown abundance levels, reaching approximatively 15 individuals for sharks and 10 for rays, were considered restored 1 and 2 months after reopening for blacktip reef sharks and pink whiprays, respectively. These findings improve our capacity to better understand the potential effects of artificial provisioning tourism on the abundance of elasmobranchs by showing that conditioning is resilient for several weeks, suggesting that intermittent interruption of elasmobranchs feeding would not really help to decrease its impact on animal welfare.

Spatial management measures benefit the critically endangered flapper skate, Dipturus intermedius

“…Participatory science has been very important in many evaluations of MPA effectiveness for elasmobranchs (Germanov et al, 2019;Séguigne et al, 2023;Ward-Paige et al, 2013). Much of the evidence base needed for the designation and monitoring of skate in the LStSJ MPA has depended on the angling community.…”

Citizen science provides valuable data to evaluate elasmobranch diversity and trends throughout the French Polynesia’s shark sanctuary

“…This decrease could be related to the progressive drop followed by the complete cessation of shark feeding practices on the outer reef during the study. Although sharks were still present, they became more difficult to detect and formed smaller aggregations compared to the provisioning periods [ 53 ]. This decrease in abundance provides further evidence suggesting that the effect of feeding on elasmobranchs is not necessarily linked to a drastic ecological change without throwback.…”

Drones in hospitality and tourism: a literature review and research agenda

“…The first cluster identified focused on the use of UAVs to observe the environmental impacts of tourism for the management and conservation of ecosystems. Studies presented in this cluster advanced the use of UAVs to efficiently monitor, map and assess the effects of tourism on natural ecosystems, such as forested areas (Runnström et al , 2019), dunes and coastal lagoons (Evelpidou et al , 2021) and species habitat (Schofield et al , 2021; Séguigne et al , 2022). Drones have also contributed to efficient waste management (Chen et al , 2022) and drone monitoring allows for the early detection of fires in tourist areas (Almeida et al , 2017).…”