Shark Chronicles 041 - Reflections

As exciting as it is to wake up every morning to the familiar smell of frozen fish, hurl blood and fish guts by the bucket load on a nearly daily basis, and occasionally be rewarded by a lucky glimpse of a out-of-water breaching white shark or attempted seal predation, It is the passion and dedication of the team of SAMPLA directors, that is a joy to watch and an honour to work alongside with.

Whether it is sitting on the windy rooftop of the Diaz hotel on seal survey watch, rescuing stranded seal pups, tracking our hearts out to stay close on the tail-end of a shark, moving monster amounts of sardines or embarking on operation ‘search and locate sharks’ with a determined director (that refused to take zero sharks for an answer!), every event is like a journey to higher education; As previously mentioned, it is the diversity and unpredictability that gives this brand of research its appeal. This is the kind of experience that transforms the SAMPLA crew into more than just a workgroup. As you stand on deck and get tossed about by the mighty ocean swells and have the unique opportunity of witnessing National Geographic-worthy moments, the crew is transformed into a family away from family.

Having participated in several internships prior to this one, I can safely say this is and will likely remain one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. Never have I seen a more passionate and unique blend of directors who are so willing to share their knowledge and expertise, and so keen to inspire others. My time at SAMPLA has only helped to reaffirm my passion for these amazing predators and inspired me to delve deeper into the realms of shark conservation.

As 2008 draws to a close and we bid farewell to a hugely successful first year of operations, we welcome the dawn of a new and improved and more aptly termed OCEANS Research programme. I couldn’t think of a more fantastic way to spend the last 3-ish months of my year. It has been a great honour to work with the whole SAMPLA team and all the interns. And an even greater pleasure to be part of such a dynamic setup and see it grow in strength and scope through my time in Mossel Bay. I wish everyone at ‘SAMPLA’ a shaarky year ahead and hope to have the opportunity to work with you in the future.

Watch out, shark research world, here we come!

Beverly Oh (SAMPLA intern)

Shark Chronicles 040 - Retrospective

As a 3-monther, SAMPLA has not only become my home, it has become a way of life. Aside from the routine tasks and daily duties, more so than learning the skills required to run a boat or conduct scientific research, SAMPLA has helped me to realign my interests and reminded me why I decided to pursue marine biology in the first place.

At a previous intern's farewell braai, Ryan once said something to the tune of "the one thing I hope all of the interns can take away from this experience is to find what truly inspires them in life, whether that be sharks, oceans, or something completely different." Well Ryan, I think you all have succeeded more than you know in helping all of us further realize and experience our personal goals and aspirations. It has been an honour to work with everyone here at SAMPLA, the directors, the office staff, and of course the other interns who have all encouraged me to pursue this crazy dream I have of saving the world, no matter how daunting or impossible it may seem.

It has been such a welcome change to be surrounded by people equally as passionate and crazy about the ocean and conservation as I am, comforting to know that there are people who care enough to make a difference. As a self-proclaimed science dork, its always fun to find others who get as excited about things most people would cringe at. Who else would root for the adorable, innocent baby seal to be ripped apart by a shark if not a SAMPLA intern? Who else could rework the lyrics to classics by the likes of Bob Marley and the Police to sing about chumming if not a SAMPLA intern? Who else can say they wrestled a Great White shark and lived to tell the tale if not a SAMPLA intern? At the risk of sounding overly sentimental, I can honestly say this is one of those experiences that will stay with me forever.

In short, I hope to express my sincere appreciation and say thank you for making this experience to everyone I have met over the course of my 3 months here. As amazing as it is to see Great White sharks on a daily basis, SAMPLA truly is a product of its members. I look forward to working with you all in the future! And watch out for me on National Geographic/Discovery Channel, I have big aspirations…

Simone Lewis-Koskinen (SAMPLA intern)

Shark Chronicles 035 - The Unpredictability of SAMPLA

For incoming interns, present interns and leaving interns the experiences gathered at SAMPLA are never the same. Our goals for the week are at the mercy of weather reports and the temperaments of sharks and seals. As a result, the interns have to become flexible and fast on their feet. Supposedly cancelled trips can snap into an impromptu wake-up call at 6am for a chum trip in thirty minutes. A windy day on the boat can suddenly reveal parting clouds, a 5m shark (okay so maybe it’s a 4.3m shark) and a fast moving SAMPLA director with an acoustic tag in hand. To the untrained eye, faulty boat motors can destroy the hopes of work at sea. However, glassy waters and iconic-looking summer skies will only highlight the rare and aromatic opportunity for feces collecting on Seal Island! The unpredictability of SAMPLA is what gives the work here its charm. It is also the thing that sculpts the characters of interns and sears deep the heartfelt sense of respect that develops among the SAMPLA team as a whole.

This last week gave the SAMPLA crew a couple of nice weather windows for tracking. As previously stated, experiences at SAMPLA are never the same. Day tracking is a different world than night tracking and if you can guess the key difference then you are a master of observation; yes, its sight! On the day shifts, senior interns focused tracking lessons on maneuvering in rough waters and close to shore. The all night shift had to learn to endure cold nights and how to rely on their equipment more so than vision. The dawn shift got a taste of both worlds and holding true to the sense of individual experiences, intern Oli not only learned about day tracking but challenged his personal sense of stamina by taking on the dawn tracking shift only hours later and without ever drinking his coveted energy drink! Our tagged 3.5m female shark stayed mostly near the Kleinbrak river mouth. Everyone’s hard efforts to achieve this continuous 36hr plus track will undoubtedly help build evidence towards SAMPLA’s white shark movement pattern study within Mossel Bay.

When coming to SAMPLA every intern has a different story and a different background. They join together with the directors and the rest of the SAMPLA staff through a couple of great braais and more importantly a common interest. This interest is strong enough that the interns are willing to fly across the world and at times make the difficult choice of putting the rest of their lives on hold. Simply put, interns come here and experience similar but ultimately different things. Some get to have one of those fabled 15-sharks-at-the-boat days, some get to go to Seal Island, some get to take an iconic photograph of a breaching shark or see a predation. On other days or even the same days, the interns work in the rain, they spend all day or all night on the boat or they chum their hearts out to no sharky avail. More importantly however, all if not most people at SAMPLA get to learn about themselves and become, if only slightly, a better version of that. In life, it is doubtful that there is a single person who can say that the achievements and experiences they are most proud of were effortless. SAMPLA gives this sort of opportunity to their interns and staff. Though our accomplishments here won’t be effortless, as a great return they have the potential to be among the things we are most proud of.

Vicky (SAMPLA intern)

Shark Chronicles 008 – 24 hrs tracking

We successfully completed a twenty four hour tracking session of Sampla, our first tagged shark. It was a gruelling tracking session, not least because it involved only me (Enrico), Andrea and Antonin (our two first students).

We worked rotating shifts: one hour off (sleep), one hour skippering the boat and one hour doing receiver work (listening for the acoustic signal, thereby tracking the shark). Every 10 minutes, we recorded the shark’s GPS coordinates and swimming direction, the surface water temperature and the bottom depth. Every hour we noted the environmental conditions including: wind speed and direction, swell height and direction, water visibility, and water column temperature (specifically, we needed to establish the depth of the thermocline).

The ping of the receiver gave you an umbilical-like connection to the swimming shark, and a certain comfort that it was there and desperation to keep it there – evoking the scene of the old man and his fish in Hemingway’s famous story. We were alone, between the expanse of the night sky and the Indian Ocean, keeping an acoustic rein on our shark. The cold, dark and lack of sleep made keeping in touch with the shark difficult, a couple of times Sampla managed to escape the 500m range of our receiver. With calm and perseverance, acoustic connection was soon re-established.

Once back in Mossel Bay we celebrated our first 24 tracking session with the famous Pirate’s breakfast at the local tavern “Sea Gipsy”.

We will track Sampla again. Soon we hope to tag new sharks with acoustic tags, but the acoustic tags will be enhanced. The tags will feature sophisticated devices designed to provide us with more information about the biology and ecology of the white shark.

ENRICO & TOBY

Shark Chronicles 007 – Following the paths of the Great White Shark

As anticipated in the last blog episode, SAMPLA has tagged its first white shark, a female of 2.7-2.8 meters (around 9 feet) long, which we named “Sampla”. The acoustic tag was deployed from our research vessel Lamnidae by SAMPLA’s technical director Stephen Swanson at 11 am on 17^th March 2008. It was a memorable moment for SAMPLA as it represents the beginning of SAMPLA’s data collection via acoustic tracking. We hope it will give us greater insight into the ecology of the white shark including providing information on the white shark’s habitat use, swimming depth preferences, and movements along the Mossel Bay coastline. The multitude of beach goers over the weekend appeared blissfully unaware of any white shark presence, as, or so it appeared, was the sharks to the presence of the beach goers. Despite the current peaceful coexistence of sharks and water users at Mossel Bay, it remains important for science and for the public to know where the sharks are!

The excitement and anticipation surrounding the tagging of SAMPLA’s first shark put the pressure on the SAMPLA field team, but Stephen’s arm was steady and our ‘first lady’ (nothing to do with Washington!) shark swam away, tag perfectly set. The acoustic tag emits a sound signal at approximately one second intervals over several months, and will allows us to follow the shark “Sampla”, by using a hydrophone (an underwater receiver with headphones). Subsequent to tagging Sampla, we set up the hydrophone and after allowing her ten minutes to settle, we started to track Sampla. She showed no signs of adverse affects from the tagging, and even came to investigate the boat (white sharks are curious) before resuming her sub surface course (we try and maintain a distance of not less than 20 m to reduce the effect of the vessel on a shark’s behaviour).

A great deal of excitement was generated by the tagging of Sampla. Where will she go, will she stay in the bay and allow us to track her? In 2005, current members of SAMPLA successfully tracked white sharks which stayed within the bay for 5-6 months, but Sampla is a new shark in a new year and tracking her could supply us with new information and/or new problems! The dilemma now is how long Sampla will stay in Mossel Bay? Our research vessel is not massive (6.5 meters – 21 feet long) and, like its crew, it is not equipped for long journeys in the open ocean. Within these restrictions (i.e. as long as Sampla remains in the bay) we will do our best, with the use of shifts and different tracking teams, to follow Sampla for as long as possible. Ultimately, the vagaries of nature do not allow us to dictate the terms by which we can track a shark!

Our next post will reveal the story behind our first 24 hour tracking of SAMPLA…

ENRICO & TOBY