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Marine Environment & Ecology Residency and Movements of Whaler Sharks Huveneers, C. et al. Movements of whaler sharks Marine Environment & Ecology Residency and movements of whaler sharks (Carcharhinus spp.) in Gulf St Vincent C. Huveneers1,2, P.J. Rogers1, M. Drew2 SARDI Publication No. F2012/000246-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 664 SARDI Aquatic Sciences PO Box 120 Henley Beach SA 5022 October 2012 Final Report to the Nature Foundation of South Australia 1 Huveneers, C. et al. Movements of whaler sharks Residency and movements of whaler sharks (Carcharhinus spp.) in Gulf St Vincent Final Report to the Nature Foundation of South Australia C. Huveneers1,2, P.J. Rogers1, M. Drew2 SARDI Publication No. F2012/000246-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 664 October 2012 2 Huveneers, C. et al. Movements of whaler sharks This Publication may be cited as: Huveneers, C.1, 2, Rogers, P.J.1, Drew, M2 (2012). Residency and movements of whaler sharks (Carcharhinus spp.) in Gulf St Vincent. Final Report to the Nature Foundation of South Australia. South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide. SARDI Publication No. F2012/000246-1. SARDI Research Report Series No. 664. 35pp. Front cover photo © Andrew Fox/Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions 1South Australian Research & Development Institute 2Flinders University South Australian Research and Development Institute SARDI Aquatic Sciences 2 Hamra Avenue West Beach SA 5024 Telephone: (08) 8207 5400 Facsimile: (08) 8207 5406 http://www.sardi.gov.au DISCLAIMER The authors warrant that they have taken all reasonable care in producing this report. The report has been through the SARDI Aquatic Sciences internal review process, and has been formally approved for release by the Research Chief, Aquatic Sciences. Although all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure quality, SARDI Aquatic Sciences does not warrant that the information in this report is free from errors or omissions. SARDI Aquatic Sciences does not accept any liability for the contents of this report or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it. © 2012 SARDI This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process. Electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owner. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. Printed in Adelaide: October 2012 SARDI Publication No. F2012/000246-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 664 Author(s): C. Huveneers1, 2, P.J. Rogers1, M. Drew2 Reviewer(s): E. Brock and M. Loo Approved by: Dr. J. Tanner Science Leader – Marine Environment & Ecology Signed: Date: 25 October 2012 Distribution: Nature Foundation of South Australia, Flinders University, SAASC Library, University of Adelaide Library, Parliamentary Library, State Library and National Library Circulation: Public Domain 3 Huveneers, C. et al. Movements of whaler sharks TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 10 2 METHODS ................................................................................................................... 12 2.1 Data analysis ........................................................................................................ 15 3 RESULTS .................................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Tagging events ..................................................................................................... 17 3.2 Capture and tagging ............................................................................................. 17 3.3 Residency ............................................................................................................. 21 3.4 Movements ........................................................................................................... 21 3.5 Spatio-temporal variations .................................................................................... 23 3.6 Additional detections ............................................................................................. 25 4 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................. 26 5 MEDIA COVERAGE AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH ................................................ 30 6 ADDITIONAL SUPPORT ............................................................................................. 31 7 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 32 4 Huveneers, C. et al. Movements of whaler sharks LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Details of fishing trips carried out in GSV to internally tag Carcharhinus brachyurus and C. obscurus with acoustic transmitters ......................................................................... 17 Table 2. Summary of detections obtained from acoustically tagged sharks in South Australian waters. GSV = Gulf St Vincent. Metro = Adelaide metropolitan region. ............... 20 5 Huveneers, C. et al. Movements of whaler sharks LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Locations of receivers deployed in GSV between 2008 and 2012. Black circles represent receivers deployed in April 2008, dark grey circles represent receivers deployed in March 2010; red circles represent receivers deployed in December 2010, blue circles represent receivers deployed in May 2011. ......................................................................... 13 Figure 2. Locations of acoustic receivers deployed in South Australia illustrating the acoustic coverage off the South Australian coastline. ....................................................................... 14 Figure 3. Internal tagging procedure of a Carcharhinus brachyurus showing (a) captured shark, (b) incision and tag insertion, (c) suturing, and (d) finished sutures. ......................... 15 Figure 4. Histogram of the number of Carcharhinus brachyurus and C. obscurus caught per fishing trip using longlines in GSV (17 trips total). ............................................................... 18 Figure 5. Size-frequency of sharks captured and tagged in GSV. White bars represent male Carcharhinus brachyurus, black bars represent female C. brachyurus, and gray bars represent C. obscurus. Male and female C. obscurus were combined due to small sample size. .................................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 6. Histogram of the minimum distance travelled for the 24 tagged sharks detected by receiver more than 1 km away from each other in the GSV. White bars represent Carcharhinus brachyurus and black bars represent C. obscurus. ....................................... 22 Figure 7. Map showing the movements of a 1,250 mm TL female Carcharhinus obscurus (red dot), and a 1,900 mm TL female C. brachyurus (blue dot) detected outside of GSV. ... 23 Figure 8. Number of sharks detected per month by the GSV receivers. White bars represent sharks detected by the Long Spit receivers; black bars represent sharks detected by the metropolitan receivers; and grey bars represent sharks detected by the remaining receivers in GSV (Zanoni, Barge, offshore Long Spit and western side of GSV). (a) Carcharhinus brachyurus, (b) C. obscurus. ............................................................................................... 24 Figure 9. Number of detections of whaler sharks in Gulf St Vincent between: A) March 2010–December 2010, B) December 2010–May 2011, C) May 2011–December 2011, and D) December 2011–May 2012. ........................................................................................... 25 Figure 10. Number of detections of a single white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) off Glenelg Beach between the 13th of August 2008 and the 10th of September 2008. Size of circles represents the number of detections by the receivers, smallest circle is nine detections, largest circle is 47 detections. ........................................................................... 26 6 Huveneers, C. et al. Movements of whaler sharks ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project was carried out under PIRSA Exemption number 9902364 and 9902458. Tagging was carried out under Flinders University ethics approval number E360. This project was funded by the Nature Foundation South Australia Inc, and the Neiser Foundation. Acoustic receivers were provided by the Australian Animal Tagging and Monitoring System (AATAMS) as part of the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS)/National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, the University of Adelaide, and the Department of the Environment, Water and Natural Resources. PIRSA provided financial support for the deployment and recovery of acoustic receivers. The authors would like to thank Matt Heard, Christopher Lamont, Andrew Lowther, Matt Lloyd, Crystal Beckmann, and Surf Life Saving South Australia for their assistance in the field. Matt Lloyd, Bruce Jackson, Tony Fowler, Shea Cameron, and Mike Steer helped with diving to deploy, recover, and download receivers. Rachel Robbins, Barry Bruce, and Russ Bradford provided information about the detections outside of Gulf St Vincent. 7 Huveneers, C. et al. Movements of whaler sharks EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Two species of whaler sharks are found in South Australia, the dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus) and the bronze
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