0251 AES Behavior & Ecology, 552 AB, Friday 9 July 2010 Jeff
0251 AES Behavior & Ecology, 552 AB, Friday 9 July 2010 Jeff Kneebone1, Gregory Skomal2, John Chisholm2 1University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; School for Marine Science and Technology, New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, 2Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States Spatial and Temporal Habitat Use and Movement Patterns of Neonatal and Juvenile Sand Tiger Sharks, Carcharias taurus, in a Massachusetts Estuary In recent years, an increasing number of neonate and juvenile sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus) have been incidentally taken by fishermen in Plymouth, Kingston, Duxbury (PKD) Bay, a 10,200 acre tidal estuary located on the south shore of Massachusetts. There are indications that the strong seasonal presence (late spring to early fall) of sand tigers in this area is a relatively new phenomenon as local fishermen claim that they had never seen this species in large numbers until recently. We utilized passive acoustic telemetry to monitor seasonal residency, habitat use, site fidelity, and fine scale movements of 35 sand tigers (79 – 120 cm fork length; age 0 - 1) in PKD Bay. Sharks were tracked within PKD Bay for periods of 5 – 88 days during September – October, 2008 and June – October, 2009. All movement data are currently being analyzed to quantify spatial and temporal habitat use, however, preliminary analyses suggest that sharks display a high degree of site fidelity to several areas of PKD Bay. Outside PKD Bay, we documented broader regional movements throughout New England. Collectively, these data demonstrate the that both PKD Bay and New England coastal waters serve as nursery and essential fish habitat (EFH) for neonatal and juvenile sand tiger sharks.
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