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Development and Application of Fatty Acid Tracers to Assess the Impacts of White Shark Cage-Diving on Target and Non-Target Species

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Development and Application of Fatty Acid Tracers to Assess the Impacts of White Shark Cage-Diving on Target and Non-Target Species Development and application of fatty acid tracers to assess the impacts of white shark cage-diving on target and non-target species by Lauren Meyer Thesis Submitted to Flinders University for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy College of Science and Engineering September 2019 Contents Thesis summary .............................................................................................................. 4 Declaration ...................................................................................................................... 6 Author contributions, permits, and funding ...................................................................... 7 Conference presentation relevant to this thesis ............................................................ 11 Other publications or contributions ................................................................................ 12 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 1: General introduction ................................................................................ 15 Marine wildlife tourism ...........................................................................................................16 White shark cage-diving in South Australia ...........................................................................19 Using biochemical tracers to determine diet ..........................................................................20 Research objectives ..............................................................................................................25 References ............................................................................................................................28 Chapter 2: Assessing the operational limitations of lipids and fatty acids for diet determination: the importance of tissue type, quantity and quality ....................... 42 Abstract .................................................................................................................................43 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................44 Methods ................................................................................................................................48 Results ..................................................................................................................................53 Discussion .............................................................................................................................60 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................68 References ............................................................................................................................69 Chapter 3: Simple biopsy modification to collect muscle samples from free- swimming sharks ........................................................................................................ 76 Abstract .................................................................................................................................77 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................77 Methods ................................................................................................................................79 Results ..................................................................................................................................84 Discussion .............................................................................................................................85 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................88 References ............................................................................................................................88 2 Chapter 4: Abiotic and biotic drivers of fatty acid tracers in ecology: a global analysis of chondrichthyan profiles .......................................................................... 91 Abstract .................................................................................................................................92 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................93 Methods ................................................................................................................................95 Results ..................................................................................................................................99 Discussion ...........................................................................................................................105 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................................112 References ..........................................................................................................................115 Chapter 5: Lipid analysis reveals little impact of wildlife tourism on the foraging ecology and nutritional condition of an apex predator .......................................... 125 Abstract ...............................................................................................................................126 Introduction .........................................................................................................................126 Methods ..............................................................................................................................130 Results ................................................................................................................................133 Discussion ...........................................................................................................................139 References ..........................................................................................................................144 Chapter 6: Unintentional provisioning: the effects of White Shark cage-diving bait and chum on non-target species ............................................................................. 154 Abstract ...............................................................................................................................155 Introduction .........................................................................................................................156 Methods ..............................................................................................................................159 Results ................................................................................................................................164 Discussion ...........................................................................................................................171 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................................178 References ..........................................................................................................................180 Chapter 7: General discussion ................................................................................ 190 Overview .............................................................................................................................191 The use of FAs in marine megafauna ecology ....................................................................192 The impacts of wildlife tourism ............................................................................................ 196 Management implications ....................................................................................................200 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................................205 References ..........................................................................................................................207 Appendix .................................................................................................................... 219 3 Thesis summary Marine wildlife tourism is the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry, earning billions of dollars globally, and with it, a myriad of management and conservation challenges. White shark Carcharodon carcharias cage-diving is particularly popular and relies on provisioning, whereby bait (tuna heads and gills) and chum (minced tuna) is used to coax sharks to within view of tourists. Owing to a number of recorded impacts on various shark species, including changes in behaviour, movement, habitat use, and activity levels, wildlife provisioning remains a contentious issue amongst managers, tourism operators, and the public alike. The objective of my thesis is to determine the effects of cage-diving on the diet of target and non-target species using biochemical tracer results obtained via new sampling and analytical methods. Although biochemical tracers, including fatty acids (FAs), are increasingly used to investigate feeding ecology of marine megafauna, their use in this setting requires further practical development in sample collection and storage scenarios, and quantitative
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