Marine Reserve Design and Evaluation Using Automated Acoustic Telemetry: A Case-study Involving Coral Reef-associated Sharks in the Mesoamerican Caribbean

Abstract

A non-overlapping acoustic receiver array was used to track the movements of two common shark species, nurse Ginglymostoma cirratum (n=25) and Caribbean reef Carcharhinus perezi (n=5), in and around Glover's Reef Marine Reserve (GRMR), off the coast of Belize, between May and October, 2004. Although both species exhibited partial site fidelity in that they were most likely to be detected near the area of original capture, both species also moved widely throughout the 10 by 30 km atoll. One Caribbean reef shark was detected by a monitor at Lighthouse Reef, 30 km from Glover's Reef across deep (>400m) open water. The mean minimum linear dispersal (MLD) was 10.5 km for Caribbean reef sharks and 7.7 km for nurse sharks, with many individuals traveling more than the 10 km width of the no-take "conservation zone" of the marine reserve. Although most sharks were tagged within the conservation zone, individuals were detected outside this part of GRMR on average 48 days out of the 150 days of observations. However, of 7 nurse sharks tagged near the center of the conservation zone, 4 were never detected outside of this part of the reserve. In general, this study suggests that effective conservation of these large roving predators requires an ecosystem-based management approach including a zoned management plan, similar to that used at GRMR, in which a fairly large no-take reserve, incorporating diverse habitats and the connections between them, is surrounded by a larger area in which fishing is regulated.

Habitat use and demographic population structure of elasmobranchs at a Caribbean atoll (Glover’s Reef, Belize)

“…Small juvenile C. perezi were only rarely captured in the shallow lagoon (< 2 m depth), indicating that this species avoids shallow, seagrass flats throughout its life, in marked contrast to G. cirratum and N. brevirostris. A parallel automated telemetry tracking study is beginning to corroborate these observations for adult and large juvenile C. perezi (Chapman et al 2005). Although 4 C. perezi fitted with transmitters ranged widely around the atoll from May to October 2004, only 1 of these was ever detected on receivers placed in the shallow lagoon, and then for only a few minutes on 1 day (Chapman et al 2005).…”

“…The presence of mature individuals of both sexes suggests that Glover's Reef could also be a mating ground for these species, but additional sampling and examination of specimens would be required to confirm this possibility. Chapman et al (2005) have found that adult male and female G. cirratum remain around Glover's Reef from May to October, which encompasses the known mating season for this species in Florida and the Bahamas (Castro 2000).…”

“…Although 4 C. perezi fitted with transmitters ranged widely around the atoll from May to October 2004, only 1 of these was ever detected on receivers placed in the shallow lagoon, and then for only a few minutes on 1 day (Chapman et al 2005). In addition, while the 2 juvenile sharks moved between the ocean reef and deep lagoon, the 2 adults were only detected on ocean reef receivers (Chapman et al 2005).…”

Whale Sharks of the Western Caribbean: An Overview of Current Research and Conservation Efforts and Future Needs for Effective Management of the Species

“…The use of acoustic tags and strategically placed multi-site acoustic array throughout the Western Caribbean and the GOM would complement the satellite technology and help to understand the patterns of site fidelity and timing of movements between multiple feeding sites. This highly robust yet cost-effective technique has been used to great effect in Belize to monitor several large rnatine species (Graham 2003, Chapman et al 2005). The array is now set up in Honduras, Belize and selected sites in the GOM.…”

First record of the whitetip reef shark, Triaenodon obesus from the coast of Jalisco, western Mexico mainland

“…The last explanation suggests that the shark travelled northwards nearly 2000 km along the coast from El Salvador. This species is sedentary and spends the majority of the time resting in caves (Randall, 1977;Nelson &Johnson, 1980, Whitney andMotta 2007), but also travels several tens of kilometers in search of adequate habitat (Whitney et al, 2012b), a behavior commonly seen in other reef sharks such as Carcharhinus perezi (Chapman et al, 2005) or C. amblyrhynchos (Heupel et al, 2010). Randall (1977) suggested the existence of large scale movements of T. obesus that would explain its wide distribution in the Indo-Pacific region.…”