16-March-2022 (written by Oliver Jewell)
We have returned from our first tiger shark tagging trip to Shark Bay, as part of our Gathaagudu Animal Tracking (GAT) Project. Shark Bay or Gathaagudu, as its known by the traditional owners of this region of Western Australia – the Malgana Peoples -, is famous for its seagrass and marine wildlife, including the iconic tiger shark. Part of the trips goal was to fit satellite and camera/diary tags to tiger sharks to reveal the long and short-term movements of these poorly understood marine predators. We also aimed to collect samples to assist with inferring the diet and genetics of these sharks.
Our team included project leaders Dr Ana Sequeira and Dr Matthew Fraser, as well as the recently appointed postdoc Dr Oliver Jewell, and PhD candidates Ben D’Antonio, Mike Taylor and Hannah Calich. Also joining us on the water was Jack Dawson of the Department of Fisheries, DPIRD, Denham. We are thankful to all of our collaborators for their continued assistance, including DPIRD, DBCA and the Malgana Aboriginal Corporation, with whom we look forward to working with again on upcoming GAT trips. Stay tuned to find out more about what we learned from the movements of the tiger sharks!
Thanks to all our philanthropic funders, including the Jock Clough Marine Foundation, and collaborators who make this work possible.
Sequeira Lab 