IN THIS ISSUE

Good News From Djibouti

News from the Marine Conservation Society Djibouti / Megaptera is coming in of their first and very successful whale shark tagging expedition.

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 International Whale Shark Conference

An international conference aimed at enhancing international collaboration on the conservation of whale sharks, will be held between the 9th to 12th May 2005 in Perth, Australia. 

The conference will explore current knowledge of whale sharks, the threats they face and the nature of their interactions with humans across both developed and developing countries. Delegates will present a range of perspectives on current management practices involving whale sharks, conservation, fishing, eco-tourism and other socio-economic issues.

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NOTICE BOARD

Whale Shark Sightings 
 Oct - Dec 2004

In-water Sightings
47 reported sightings
41 in-water encounters
27 sharks identified
16 sharks sexed (14M/2F)
7 sharks re-sighted from this season


Aerial Sightings
(Oct-Nov)

53 flights in total
88hrs 58mins flying time
213 sharks sighted
Maximum of 26 sharks seen on a single flight

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2004Seychelles Whale Shark Monitoring Summary

	Whale sharks came in early in June this year. Photo:  Johannes Schwabe

After a dramatic start to this year’s whale shark arrivals, 2004 has been a somewhat disappointing year and raises some major questions about the population of whale sharks in the Indian Ocean .

 Unlike the previous years the season started with a short but early influx in June with a total of 131 sightings reported of which 63 were from the North of Mahe. Also unusual was that none of the sharks had been recorded here before and a number were large adults, including a female shark of over 12 metres in length.

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	Satellite PAT  tag as deployed in the MCSS programme.

In last issue of Sagren we discussed the basic principles of satellite tags and the Argos system giving the user information about the position and movements of their animals. This is only part of the systems capability, tags attached to sharks and other animals can also provide information on the behavior of the study animal and monitor the environmental conditions encountered by the animal.

 These tags are called data recording tags and one of the most popular forms is the Pop-Off Archival tag that was designed to deal with the problems associated with marine animals that spend much of their time underwater.
 

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Our microlight in Action    Photo Daniel Pascoe

18 September 2004 9:50
The first break in the clouds for a few days - the rain has been good for the water shortage suffered on the island! Flying into a 20 knot headwind it takes a while to get to South point. There are many white caps on the ocean and the sunlight is coming through intermittently with 6-7/8ths cumulous cloud. Water visibility is about 6-10m deep and the rough surface conditions do not make for not ideal spotting conditions.

As I fly past Police point, I finally glimpse the grey bodies breaking the
surface of the water. There are three of them, all within a relatively small
area. 

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We have just received reports of the slaughter of at least three whale shark in the waters off Chittagong in Bangladesh. The first shark was apparently displayed in the local market and one tour company was trying to keep it for public display.

The following day a further two sharks were caught and this caught the attention of the local newspapers .

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Please let us know! Please get as much information as possible, where when, how many, how big, what it was doing etc. then call us, e-mail us or fill out our on-line sighting form every sighting is important in building a picture of these sharks movements and behaviour around Seychelles

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By becoming a whale shark foster parent you are ensuring that research on whale sharks is continued. Your support will assist in protecting these amazing creatures and ensure that they continue roaming the world’s tropical oceans.

Adopt me !

Mazarin (s275): A 4½ m juvenile male whale shark tagged on the 25th January 2003 near L'ilôt Island. He has a distinct scaring pattern and is easily recognized.

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