PIT Program 2003

Bimini Biological Field Station

Author: Eric H Cheng [wetpixel bio] [home page]
[PRIVATE PIT AREA]

Welcome to Wetpixel's live coverage of the Bimini Biological Field Station's 2003 PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) tagging program. I am here with an international team of 22 (6 staff members and 18 volunteers, from the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, England and Scotland) working with reknowned shark scientist Dr. Samuel H. Gruber, collecting data and tagging the local cohort of juvenile lemon sharks. The grueling schedule involves nightly gill netting and tagging from sunset to sunrise. For more information about the Bimini sharklab, visit http://www.miami.edu/sharklab.

I will be keeping a daily journal of the PIT Tagging program activities here on Wetpixel, but I may not be able to update every day because we have been so busy!

Why do we do the PIT tagging? What it came down to for us was to assume that we had no immigration or emigration in the lagoon/nursery where we were studying young lemon sharks. We also assumed no fishing--only natural mortality. Then we chose a sure sampling procedure: We caught and tagged every last lemon shark in the nursery. Here's what we did: We set up a big pen in the lagoon and fished large sections at a time. We knew from John Morrissey's comprehensive tracking study and more recently Bryan Frank’s that baby lemon sharks have a VERY restricted activity space. We thus set 180-meter long gill nets at three stations at sundown and every 15 min. over the 12-hour summer night we walked/swam those nets. When we came upon a lemon shark we removed it brought it to a skiff and ran it out to the tagging crew at the big pen. The tagging crew weighed, measured, sexed and tagged sharks as they arrived. We also took a fin sample for DNA analysis.

After years of searching we came upon a tag with virtually no shed rate and absolutely no deleterious effects on the little sharks. It is called a passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag and is tiny--rice grain sized with the diameter of a #2 pencil lead. It is a glass encapsulated electronic transponder that needs no power source. Excite the circuit with microwaves and it spits out the number, which comes up on the reader device. We actually inject the tags into the base of the dorsal fin where we hope it stays for life.

Anyway, we fish the same stations for six nights: The first night we get maybe 65 sharks; the next perhaps 30 and then after a few days maybe 1 or 2 or none. Why? We have caught them all and they are in our big pen. It’s quite a sight to see 100 little lemon sharks all schooling together in the pen.

Once we are satisfied that we have all the sharks in that particular nursery area we go on to the next one. But by the end of the three nights of fishing we are exhausted and have to take a day or two off. During the rest days we send out a boat to feed our little charges then eventually release them en-masse. We know from telemetry studies that they go back to their activity spaces, which are only several hundred meters away in any case.

Then we do it all over again in an adjacent location. We find only little overlap between the two nursery grounds as the situation repeats itself: 60 the first night; 30 the second and 2 or 3 the third and so on. Perhaps only 1 or 2 are recaptured from the nights before.

One other thing: We work at Bimini, an island complex surrounding a mangrove fringed shallow lagoon. The islands are only 48 miles east of Miami in the Bahamas. As far as I know, Bimini has the only viable nursery grounds within miles, so the baby lemon sharks cannot migrate--they are stuck for at least 3-years in the lagoon. If they venture out they get eaten--quickly.

Well, our first attempt suggested that there were only about 80 baby lemon sharks born into the nursery at the North Sound, a part of the lagoon. We did this study before we began the catch-them-all technique. We used a sampling technique and estimated abundance. But starting in May 1995 we have caught around 100 in the North Sound and a further 100+ in a nearby place we call Sharkland. As I write we have data on over 2000 lemon sharks at Bimini each with a PIT tag. Probably 70% are dead from natural causes—juveniles have high mortality of 40-60% in the first years. Lots of these are bigger sharks with dart tags but after many years of trying this and that we have settled on the PIT method I outlined above.

The thing is that only because of the species of choice, the lemon shark, and the unique conditions at Bimini --resembling a lake more than an open, infinite marine environment can I do these comprehensive and detailed studies. The usual situation is far more daunting: If you get a 3% recovery rate from your tagged sharks, you are doing very well indeed!! Eventually at Bimini we will get a 99% recapture rate since all the sharks will carry a PIT tag—and we have often gotten a 94% rate. Thus we have been able to learn a lot about the early life history of my model species--the lemon shark.

Even in the bad old days (the 1980s) our recapture rate approached 45% and we often tagged and released the same shark 5 or more times over the course of several years!! But that's Bimini and that’s the lemon shark!!

Well you shark lovers asked for it--and I got carried away. But I thought you shark folks would like to hear a little about the nitty gritty of it. One other thing: We don't have a monster Federal grant. Our work is carried out with volunteers. If any of you out there in cybershark land are interested in helping, drop me a line.

		Alan Reeve - Birmingham, UK      I am currently out here in Bimini doing the research component of a Masters degree investigating the feeding selectivity of sharks. I love working in any aquatic environment. I like snowboarding, football, and acting like a fool with Steve, Bryan and Grant. Big up to all my peeps and Elina -- I love you.
		Bryan Franks (before BBFS) - Vineland, NJ, USA       I've been here for 6 months and am currently workin on my Ph.D project. I like jumping off the dock naked, paperclips, and cantaloupe. My dislikes are are mustard and herbivores. My most interesting experience at the Sharklab has been tagging myself in the right buttocks with a Casey tag. I enjoy long walks on the beach with open-minded people, sipping champagne, and eating strawberries.
		Bryan Franks (after BBFS) - Vineland, NJ, USA       (additional photo included to avoid unnecessary embarrassment)
		Drew Lynford - Catonah, New York, USA
		Eric Cheng - San Francisco, CA, USA - [homepage]      Eric Cheng is a software engineer, musician, and underwater photographer. He runs wetpixel.com and takes pictures of everything he sees. More information about Eric can be gleaned from his personal website: echeng.com
		Grant Johnson - Minneapolis, MN, USA      In the two years since I've been here, I've been bitten by a lemon shark, stung by a stingray, rammed by bull sharks, chased by reef sharks, man-handled by a sawfish, slapped by tiger sharks, and today, I spent 45 minutes with my hand stuck in a nurse shark's mouth. And I consider myself one of the luckiest mother-f'ers in the world.
		Indigo - Bimini, Bahamas
		Jackie Randell - St. John, New Brunswick, Canada      Coming back to the lab was one of the best decisions I have made. Living on a tiny island in the Bahamas and being given the opportunity to see things like a 14 ft. sawfish makes the thought of leaving the lab and returning to normal life a difficult choice. Also, working with people who make me laugh daily and hearing things that most people really don't need to hear has corrupted me a bit and taught me some valuable phrases that I can use at truck stops.
		Johanna Imhoff - Felton, PA, USA      I am a senior marine biology major at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and I am very happy to be spending my summer here at the Sharklab (although I will miss my family when they are in Ocracoke without me). I love scuba diving with my Dad and Uncle Mike, which is how I encountered my first shark in the wild, the sand tiger. I also enjoy photography, playing my guitar, girls night, and dollar tacos at Carolina Cantina.      A few words about sharks by my favorite poet, Ogden Nash:           As many scientists have written,           The shark is gentle as a kitten.           Yet this I know about the shark --           His bit is worser than his bark.
		Joy Young - Springfield, Missouri, USA      There are just too many dolphin huggers out there, and my mom hates that I work with sharks. *Those who hear not the music think the dancer mad.*
		Katie Jarik - Santa Barbara, CA, USA      "Hey, Skitch. How did we get here!?!"      "I led you here, sir, for I am Spartacus." - That Thing You Do      My love of animals has brought me a long way -- from equestrian to giant schnauzer owner to BBFS (and many a step in between). But I have not gotten here alone. My wonderful family and friends have supported me all the way. To my San Diegan and UCSB peeps, I am proud to call you my friends. Many thanks to all!      People often ask me, "Why sharks?" Though I could go on for hours, I can simply say, "They never cease to amaze me." But that's usually the case with anything we love -- any passion we possess. Follow your passion, follow what you love... and you can't go wrong. and so, enjoy the ride. God speed, all -- live, laugh, love.
		Kristene Parsons - Bowling Green, OH, USA      Similar to most of the other crazy people here, I have had an uncontrollable passion for sharks since I was very young, and have chosen to dedicate the rest of my life to their protection through discovery and knowledge. This pursuit has led me to Dr. Gruber and the Sharklab, where I've affectionately called home since February, 2002.      PIT this year is my farewell to Bimini, as I'm leaving for graduate school in England. I leave behind great stories and memories, lifetime friends, the bluest waters, and amazing sharks. Most of all, I leave this place where, for people like me, Doc & Mari have made dreams come true. Never could I have imagined that at age 24 I'd have seen, done, and learned as much as I have about sharks and life as a field scientist. I have been privileged to work with 93 volunteers from around the world, a great staff, an amazing principal investigator, and one in-the-making. I couldn't have asked for anything more in my life at this point, and I thank all those who made this experience what it has been -- especially Doc. Where I go from here may be thousands of miles away on some other island, but my heart is always in Bimini. I take with me the honor of having worked with, and more importantly, the opportunity to have known a legend in our world of sharks. Thanks, Doc!
		Laura Metcalfe - Lancashire, UK      Hey, I'm Laura and I've had an overwhelming passion for sharks since I was a wee nipper! After completing my degree in applied biology at LJM (Liverpool John Moores University), I proceeded to take on an MSC in behavioural ecology. It was then that I was introduced to the Sharklab. I carried out my MSC project here last summer on the diurnal behaviour of activity patterns of the juvenile lemon shark. I accumulated so many memories and experiences here last summer (including a >12ft sawfish!) that I decided to return to the lab for PIT. Both the people and the place itself have encouraged me to pursue a career in shark behaviour and their conservation. Apart from my obsession with sharks (especially, the bull shark), I also enjoy kickboxing, basketball, and supporting the almighty LFC!      I'd like to thank my family and friends for their enthusiasm and support, especially my ickle bruv. I love ya heaps, Marko. x
		Lesley Brown, a.k.a. "Lezzles" - Dalkeith, Scotland      Sexy curvaceous young blonde Scots girl WLTM talk dark stranger with GSOH + a passion for sharks. Oops! Wrong website. Sorry, Mum!      I have a degree in Zoology and came out here in January after pestering Doc for months to do the research for my Masters in Behavioural Ecology. Originally was going to come for 3 months, then 4, then 5, and now it's going to be 6 months by the time I finally get home to Bonnie Scotland. Basically, they can't get rid of me. So I'm having fun out here in the sunshine playing with sharks (and being bitten by them -- twice!) and getting a good suntan. Hopefully I'll have a Masters at the end, but who cares! I'm having fun.      P.S. Anna Belly Broon -- can't wait to see my little niece or nephew -- miss you! Highbury Massive -- serious drinking in the Toon is approaching fast -- miss you guys, too. XX Lezzles
		Lilian Gehrke - Kiel, Germany      Hi, everybody! I am in my 7th semester studying marine biology in Kiel, Germany. I am doing my masters project here in Bimini about prey choice criteria of juvenile lemon sharks. This place is very nice; I enjoy seeing all the crazy stuff happening here. I really like all kinds of sharks. Apart from sharks, I love funny sports like kiteboarding, snowboarding, skating, rock-climbing, mountain biking, and martial arts. Being a part of PIT has been one of the best times I've had since I've been here. Fette Grüsse nach Kiel!
		Marie Gruber - Miami, FL, USA      I'm a former fashion designer married to "Doc". Doc says they tie boats to him, so I guess I'm a boat! I help run the Shark Lab by cooking for special events and classes or whenever I go to the Shark Lab. I help organize all the volunteers and keep the files back in the Miami office. I came to Florida back in the '60s from Los Angeles, California on a designing job and met the "Doc". The passion he has for sharks kind of rubbed off on me ( not to swim with them or kiss them) but to help him with his work and studies. We raised our own "Mini-Shark Docs", 2 daughters. They both love Bimini and the Shark Lab. They were both instrumental in building and training the early staff. Although they return frequently, they are off on their own careers.
		Marta Calosso - Milan, Italy      I'm Marta, 25, from Italy. I have had a passion for sharks since I was 16 years old, and so being down here in Bimini is like a dream come true. This is the second time that I have come to the BBFS, and there are no words that can describe how happy I am to be back. This experience makes me realize what I want to do with my life, and what kind of person I would like to to be. I also realized that I only have one life to live, and it should be spent pursuing my passion, no matter how long or difficult the path might be.
		Matthias Kühn - Philadelphia, PA, USA      I: was born in 1982 in Dresden, Germany, am a senior majoring in zoology and German at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, am on the Wisconsin crew team, like sports music, and partying, have an illustrious singing career here in Bimini, and enjoy "CDT."
		Melissa Yencho - Fairfield, CT, USA      Hey everyone! My name is Melissa Yencho and I recently graduated from Coastal Carolina University with dual degrees in marine science and biology with a minor in chemistry. On to fun stuff: In addition to loving sharks, I also enjoy yoga, longlining, rollerblading, singing, anything creative, and teaching myself bass guitar. I also enjoy movies, music and enjoying my friends' company. My favorite sharks are the bull shark and the nurse shark with an extra special place in my heart for C. plumbeus. In the future I plan on studying veterinary medicine of aquatic animals. I am also going to pursue a masters of marine biology at University of Charleston in the Fall. Namaste.
		Pelican - Bimini, Bahamas      It was January of 2002, and I had settled down in the beautiful islands of Bimini for the winter. One day while taking a leisurely swim between North and South Bimini, I was struck by a boat and lost my wing. Soon after, I was "rescued" by a tall, lanky, American boy and a beautiful Brazilian girl, and brought to the Sharklab. Since then, I have claimed the dock as my kingdom, been fed like a queen, and have been trying to convince everyone that my name is not Pelly.
		Ratdog - Bimini, Bahamas
		Rebecca Dolson - Guelph, Ontario, Canada      Hi all! Well, I am a 3rd year marine and freshwater bio student at the University of Guelph. I am having the time of my life here in Bimini. I never expected to meet so many awesome people, and I can't begin to describe the scenery or the amazing work we get to participate in. I want to thank everyone who helped me to get here for all your support: Doc, for letting me come, Ryan, just because, and a special thank you to Alan. I love sharks -- all of them -- but I hate bugs!
		Ruth Harris - Southampton, Hampshire, UK      I have been obsessed with sharks since before I can remember and anyone who knows me will tell you that once I get started talking about sharks I won't shut up. My diving experiences with sharks made me totally in awe of their beauty and grace, and I hope my work will encourage conservation and understanding of these amazing creatures. I now have a Masters on Oceanography for which I was lucky enough to study sand tiger sharks (my favourite shark!). I have been here at the Sharklab for 3 months now and have seen and learnt so much, there's no doubt I'll spend my life studying sharks, and I hope to find a PhD on sand tigers shortly. I miss and love all my family and friends who have been a tower of strength and encouragement. I am especially proud of a certain friend who once wouldn't come in my room as I had a poster of a shark but has now actually swum with one! Yes, Polls -- that's you! My favourite times (without sharks) are spent socialising with friends, playing with my niece and nephews, listening to hip-hop and R&B, and dancing, with a bit of yoga thrown in for good measure. Big thanks to all my friends, family, and of course, everyone at the Sharklab! Love you all!
		Samuel Gruber - Miami, FL, USA     I've always loved the water and the beaches, and as a child on Miami Beach began my interest in marine biology by collecting shells from the age of seven. As I grew up I spent most of my days in or on the water, teaching myself to SCUBA dive at age 13 in 1952, and did competition swimming and springboard diving as my major sport. In my junior year at college, while spear fishing I was menaced by a huge hammerhead shark. I was absolutely frightened and awed yet the giant fish was beautiful, magnificent and circling me! When he did not actually kill and consume me, I knew that I wanted to learn more about them, so right then and there I started my lifetime work on these splendid creatures. I decided to study the lemon shark because they were available locally and were able to survive in captivity fairly well. I spent my early years in the laboratory studying their behavior and their sensory (vision, olfaction and hearing) physiology. But, soon I was spending so much time in the lab that I felt I was losing my focus on the animal itself. So decided change careers and to go out in the field. For over a decade I went to the Bahamas and Bimini in search of the lemon shark and its mysteries. During this period (1978-1990), I had been in a battle to the death with malignant lymphoma. It appears that I won, a getting a new lease on life, so I decided to forgo the research vessels and to open my own field station on Bimini to conduct shark research on my own time. I thought I wouldn't have to beg for grants or funding if I could just get barely enough to run the station. But eventually, funding came, and I received grants from the Office of Naval Research National Science Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation National Sea Grant and the Florida State Department of Education. However the events of 9/11 overtook our funding so that today we rely on the generous patrons and philanthropic private donors. Thanks to these generous people we are able to keep the Shark Lab afloat and the worthy graduate students who train and study the endangered lemon sharks in the clear waters of the Bahamas.
		Steve Kessel - Middlesex, UK      Steve was born in a traveling circus just outside of New Guinea. His life as a carnie was short-lived, as a strong dislike for small hands forced him to run away at the age of 3. By the time Steve was four, he had slipped into alcoholism. One rainy night back in May, 1985, Steve went on a serious bender and woke up in November, 2002, on the doorstep of the Sharklab, with no memory of the time between. After 7 months at the lab, Steve had decided that his favorite shark is definitely the loan shark, as none of the others can feed his gambling addiction.
		Tarra Cooper - Miami, FL, USA      I am going into my fourth and final year at Florida Tech for marine biology. Obviously, I really like sharks, which is why I'm in lovely bug-infested Bimini for the summer. This place is beautiful, and I encourage everyone to take a trip to this tiny island. Although it's only 50 miles from home, I feel like I'm in a world away. So to everyone at home, I love you, I miss you, and thank you for helping me to get where I am today.
		Teabag - Bimini, Bahamas      Missing: scrawny dog with huge head and bright red lipstick.

PIT Program 2003 Journal, Week 1

Friday - 05.30.2003

"I'm a good homie." - Marie Gruber

The 22-person strong PIT tagging team met for the first time today at the Bimini Biological Field Station and have spent the majority of the day in crash-course meetings with a veteran on-site staff learning how to keep the station at peak efficiency. We have less than two days to learn all of the processes important to a successful tagging season; because the majority of the juvenile lemon sharks will be caught during the first evening of gill netting, we volunteers will be learning very quickly -- on the job. Although it has been an extremely long day, we are all anticipating even longer days in the coming weeks.

The station itself is modeled after a research vessel, with a few bunked cabins each sleeping 4-6 people, a galley, a large lab, and two heads with showers and toilets. Resources are very valuable because much of what the lab uses is impossible to obtain in Bimini. Most of it is flown in from Florida whenever Doc charters a flight.

When we arrived at the Sharklab, we had a long meeting where I met the staff and the other volunteers (although, I had already met some of the volunteers the charter flight from Ft. Lauderdale). Many of the volunteers have never actually been close to a shark in the wild, so the meeting was followed by an adrenaline-inducing shark dive to get us "in the mood." After the dive, we returned to the lab to begin preparations for tagging.

We have been divided up into tagging/netting teams and a home team that supports the away teams. I have been assigned to the home team with Marta, Rebecca, Tarra, and staff members Jackie, Grant, Doc, and Marie for the first few days of tagging. Our job is to take care of all of the equipment and food necessary to keep the away teams functioning all night. Doc and the staff will periodically rotate us so all of the volunteers get a chance to work the sharks.

The away teams will stay awake today for a few more hours in an attempt to get used to their upcoming vampiric schedule. I, however, must head to bed.

Saturday - 05.31.2003

Tonight is the first night of tagging! We spent much of the day touring the Sharklab facilities, practicing shark handling in a lagoon close to the lab, and meeting with Doc and the staff. All of the teams assembled in the inner lab, and for inspiration, Bryan played on the television the President's speech from the movie, "Armageddon." It seemed to have worked! Still freshly energetic (and bright-eyed!), they loaded themselves and their copious amounts of gear onto our truck, and motored off to the dock where the four tagging boats are located. The first night of tagging is always the busiest, so a long night of hard work awaits them.

Tagging the sharks involves setting up a central tagging pen and three gill nets separated by about a quarter mile each along the Bimini mangroves. A special research permit allows the use of gill nets -- normally illegal -- in Bimini. From sunset to sunrise, juvenile lemon sharks are caught in the nets and brought over to the tagging station for measuring, weighing, DNA sampling, and PIT tagging (the tiny tags are inserted just below the dorsal fin). After data collection, the juveniles are gently placed into a large holding pen for the remainder of the tagging operation so they aren't caught again in the nets. By 9am the next morning, the away teams will stumble dirty and exhausted back to the Sharklab, where they will be greeted with a hot breakfast before they head off to bed.

A PIT tag, next to a penny. Each PIT tag broadcasts
a unique ID when it is scanned by a PIT tag reader.

[see photos from today]

Sunday - 06.01.2003

What an exhausting day! (I realize as I write this that I actually have no right to complain, because everyone on the tagging team is soaking wet). It is 2:20am right now, and the entire lab is dark and silent. The away teams are out tending to gill nets and penned sharks, and most of the home team is already in bed. Grant, Marta and I went out a few hours ago to deliver food and supplies. When we arrived, one of the net boats was in the process of delivering the sharks they had penned the prior evening to the tagging team. One by one they transferred the little sharks onto the tag boat to be "worked up." I took the opportunity to slip into the tagging pen with Melissa to photograph some of the juvenile lemon sharks. There are currently approximately 80 sharks in the pen; all of them are juveniles, ranging in age from newborns to three-year-olds. Most of the sharks were clustered in a large group at the deep end of the pen (which was about 1.5 meters deep), and it was exhilirating to see their thin, undulating bodies emerge out of the murkiness a few meters away from me. A tagging team member must walk the perimeter of the pen periodically to make sure that none of the sharks are stationary on the bottom. Weak sharks are usually "walked" to run water through their mouths and gills, and then placed on bottom of the pen, facing the current. If a shark by chance becomes so weak that it stops breathing and stiffens up, a bilge pump is used to force oxygenated water through its mouth, and it is flexed back and forth by hand until it revives.

The home team spent the day cleaning the away team's equipment, doing laundry, packing up gear boxes, and fixing gill nets. Gill nets usually do not emerge unscathed after an entire evening of catching sharks, because even little sharks have mouths full of sharp teeth. Holes are inevitable, and the home team must spend time each day fixing them by hand. Each net is 190 meters long, so even a single gill net can take hours to fix.

Monday - 06.02.2003

"If anyone feeds that dog, I'm shutting the lab down." - Doc

Once again, the entire lab is quiet. The away team is gone again for the evening, but we all have a "rest day" tomorrow to look forward to. The day after tomorrow, Doc and the staff will swap home team members into the field, but tomorrow we spend "resting," which means that we will fix all of the seven gill nets and catch up on maintenance unable to be completed during the relative chaos during tagging days.

I spent the entire day at the lab because I was on house duty (household and kitchen responsibilities), which was a welcome break from the sweltering heat outside. And, I got to spend time with Marie, who has virtually taken me and everyone else here in as children. She leaves on Friday, and I'm sure the entire station will miss her -- and her cooking!

The away team is starting to look a bit haggard. Most of them headed directly to bed after unpacking their equipment when they returned this morning. A day of "rest" seems like just the thing they need after spending three full nights out on the water. We were told that it was a little chilly last night, but tonight there seems to be no wind, so the bugs (biting kinds!) have probably assembled en masse, leaving the mangroves to inflict pain upon the team.

Tuesday - 06.03.2003

It is just before 7:00pm, and almost everyone is outside fixing gill nets. Five of them have been fixed already, which leaves two for the rest of today and tomorrow. The away team was roused from slumber at 3pm, after only five hours of sleep (many of them look extremely tired!), but they will be able to sleep as much as they want to tonight. A little puppy named Teabag has been hanging out at the lab a lot. The owner lives down the street, but doesn't seem to be taking care of him because he is so weak that he can barely move by himself, and when he decides to sit or lay down, he sort of just falls over onto the ground. Much to the everyone's relief, Matthias has decided to try to purchase Teabag from his owner.

Doc, Grant and I went to the tagging pen this afternoon to check up on the sharks and to feed them. I took another dip into the pen to take photographs. The little sharks are very cute! I was holding my camera out at arm's length with the focus manually fixed (it is quite difficult to photograph small, fast-moving subjects in a few feet of water if you look through the viewfinder), and at times I had newborns swimming around in the area between my chest, arms, and camera. It's easy to forget that their teeth are very sharp.

On the way back to the lab, we stopped at Batelnet in North Bimini to try to get our phone line working again (it has not been working since yesterday). On the "beach" were three conch fisherman preparing an enormous pile of de-shelled conch for sale. I had never seen a large pile of still-alive de-shelled conch, and I stared with a mildly sick fascination as they occasionally flexed back and forth, feebly reaching for freedom. Doc bought a bunch of them for $1.25 apiece. Looks like we are having conch tomorrow night. :)

And finally, a message to Cheryl, from Jackie and our team here: [message #1] [message #2]

Wednesday - 06.04.2003

"Don't hold your radios gangsta style!" - Doc

Today was our "rest day," and all of the volunteers were free to do whatever that wanted to do until 2pm. For many of the away team, that meant more than twelve hours of peaceful slumber. Grant, Bryan, Steve, Lesley, Rebecca and I went out on the water for a bit to run errands, and we snorkeled both at a local plane wreck and near Turtle Rock, where we saw six or seven large nurse sharks, two lemon sharks, and two blacknose reef sharks. I was able to get close to the largest nurse shark (the rest fled when I approached), and it actually lifted off the ground towards me (or towards its reflection in my dome port?) when I was a only a few feet away. They are very cute. :)

We ate lunch at 4pm, and immediately prepared to go out into the field again. Doc wanted the nets to be set by around 5:30pm, which unfortunately means that the home team must get up at 6:00am tomorrow morning to greet the away team when they return. Dinner will be delivered to the field at around midnight, so much of the home team will be deprived of sleep. The old home team (which I was a part of) has been swapped into the field for the last three days of Sharkland. I decided to accompany the tagging team (currently: Kristene (captain), Joy, and Marta) as a spectator for the first half of the evening (5:30pm until 12:00am) to collect more photographs.

My first tagging boat experience was somewhat bipolar, with bursts of frantic activity (e.g. multiple sharks being delivered at once) followed by periods of extreme calm. Even though it was a nice night, the bugs were definitely out to get us. Although many people spent the evening in mosquito jackets, there is almost no way to completely avoid them. Everyone who has been here for a long time seems to have developed relative immunity to mosquito and sand fly bites, but the rest of us are dotted with red, itchy bumps. Teams bond tightly within individual boats, and there is also a lot of inter-boat chatter via radio -- especially late at night when entertainment from peers is the best way to pass time. There seems to be a common feeling among the new volunteers here, many of whom have experienced a sort of epiphany in finding out that there are people out there who share with them a common passion for sharks and field work. Most people who love sharks are considered to be eclectic in their home towns because of the media-dictated view of sharks as indiscriminately aggressive eating machines.

At around 11pm, Laura was afllicted by symptoms of heat stroke from being out in the hot sun for most of today and yesterday, so Johanna was roused from her home team duties to replace her in the field (she accompanied the dinner boat out to Sharkland). There have been a few other medical issues that have come up so far, but the teams have been very stoic in dealing with the extreme working conditions.

Thursday - 06.05.2003

How can there be so many mosquitos and sand flies in the lab? I've killed over 15 in the last hour, and they keep coming. I think they are winning the war.

Here's a strange thing about being at a field station (strange, perhaps, only because I have a software engineer/cubicle background and am used to sitting indoors all day in extremely sterile environments): a few days ago I hopped into the shower. As I was showering, I kept tasting salt and thought to myself, "I must be really dirty!" But then I remembered that we use brackish water from taps here. :) Doc said that we should be happy that we have doors and windows, because some field stations out there do not. We even have air-conditioning here. And so, I am grateful. :)

After doing some web and computer work this morning, I went out with Doc and Grant to run some errands and to feed the six penned sharks in the North Sound. Later on, Ruth took Kate, Tarra and I to the pens behind the Sharklab to release the four sharks that were used for handling training. It turns out that if you just open the entrance of a pen, the sharks won't necessarily leave by themselves (while you are in there trying to herd them, I mean). It also probably didn't help that I was perched at the opening trying to get a photograph. Eventually, the sharks left one by one (with the help of herding from a net), and all of them swam in a wide arc around me, heading off in the same direction. The rest of the home team labored in the blazing heat (it was quite hot today!), fixing gill nets and planting palm trees. A boat turned a sharp corner around the point last night, cutting Bryan's net in half. Boats leave huge holes in nets, and huge holes translate directly to a lot of manual labor. Without the home team fixing nets every day, the tagging operation would not be possible.

Dinner delivery to the away team was a little strange this evening. Because the away team had left early again to have their nets set by 6pm, and the home team had dinner ready an hour early. And since the lab has a history of cross-dressing and general untraditional craziness, Grant and Jackie dressed up (with Marie's help) as two very "interesting" characters while Ruth and I donned cow suits to bring a little humor to the away team. When you are looking at the photos, remember that Jackie is a very pretty girl. She was embarrassed that she had the capacity to dress and look as she did tonight. :)

And finally, Tarra has a message for Carlos.

I've received more than five bites since I sat down to write this update.

PIT Program 2003 Journal, Week 2

Friday - 06.06.2003

Today is Katie's 20th birthday! Happy Birthday, Katie! She tried to hide it from us, but some of her friends left comments on this site, so we gathered in the kitchen to congratulate her.

In the morning, Doc, Grant and I drove out to the North Sound to feed Alan's sharks and to mark pen locations for the next round of tagging. In the afternoon, I decided to go out for the entire evening with the away team for the last night at Sharkland. Most of the evening was relatively uneventful because the majority of sharks there have already been caught. Just before dinner, Doc got on the radio with an all-Bimini bulletin: "Attention, Bimini: Marta is looking for a husband. All eligible bachelors should call on this frequency, or show up at the Sharklab." At around 10:30pm, Grant, Lesley, and Katie arrived with dinner and yet another surprise for Marta: a full-size, anatomically-correct husband, or "uhs-bande," as she says it. Marie and the home team had made him out of cardboard, clothing, two onions, and a blown-up condom! Much merriment followed as we discovered Marta's husband's anatomy, and then the dinner crew went home.

I transferred from the tagging boat onto Tiger Shark (Laura, Melissa, and Captain Steve) after dinner, where I was treated to a real-life glimpse of something we call "CDT," which will have to remain undescribed for fear of permanently traumatizing those of you perusing this site. We drove up and down the net every 15 minutes, looking for any sharks that might have been caught. When the boat is away or the tide is too low, checks are done by mask and snorkel, which at times can be quite scary. Jo claims that she saw a man walking in the mangroves at night during one of her snorkel checks. None of us really believe her (heh), but it's still scary to imagine. It's also bull shark territory here, and while the probably is virtually nil that one will randomly emerge from the darkness and tear you to pieces, the thought is likely to cross one's mind when he or she is in the water at night with nothing but a tiny dive light. Half-eaten fish are sometimes found in the nets, but the culprits are usually roaming nurse sharks, which are mostly harmless.

At 4am, Kristene's voice crackled over the radio, "Something is terribly wrong," as previously-tagged sharks started popping up in the nets. Two people were immediately sent around the tagging pen to look for holes, and net teams worked at full steam to get the re-caught sharks back into the pens. At this point, Steve dropped me off at White Shark (Alan's boat), which was manning the net catching most of the escapees. White Shark caught two more sharks while I was on board, and we spent the rest of the time before 6:30am (when the nets were scheduled to be pulled in) taking funny photographs. Of particular note are a photos of Alan, posing with his extra-cool PIT tag reader.

We arrived at the dock at 7:45am, drove back to the lab, cleaned up, ate breakfast, and retired for the day (except for Kristene, Alan, and a few others, who stayed up to fix gill nets in anticipation of the coming rest days. if the nets are finished today, we will have absolutely nothing to do tomorrow or the next day except move pens). Grant took a couple of people out to Sharkland to dismantle the smaller pens and move the dismantled materials to the North Sound for tomorrow's pen building session.

Saturday - 06.07.2003

Being a "rest day," all we did today was release the Sharkland sharks, dismantle the large pen, and build four pens in the North Sound. It was quite a sight to see large groups of juvenile lemon sharks leave the tagging pen!

Dismantling the pens involves cutting the plethora of zip ties that hold the structure together, removing the rebar supports, moving the cinder blocks that weigh the bottom of the fence down, rolling up the actual fence, and moving everything to the new location. It took a total of about three hours to release the sharks, dismantle the large pen, move it, and rebuilt it.

In the afternoon and evening, we fixed gill nets and relaxed. Tomorrow is completely free!

Sunday - 06.08.2003

A real rest day! Everyone was free to wander out and about, or, "oot and uh-boot," as our Canadian volunteers here say.

I went out on a boat fishing with Grant, Steve, Jo, and Jackie, who was very happy to have a chance to get out because she has been so house-bound lately. Jackie keeps lab operations running smoothly, and because the lab is so full of people during PIT, she is so busy that she rarely has a moment to relax. We love you, Jackie! It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and Steve and Grant were on fire, catching a bunch of large fish almost immediately. We spent the rest of the day on the beach (and tree house) near the rusted ruins of the Gallant Lady, an old boat that sits on shore relatively close to the lab.

In the evening, all 22 of us headed over to the Yacht Club for dinner and drinks. It was a bit strange (but nice!) to see everyone mildly dolled-up for the evening out. The food was tasty, except that the "steamfish" [sic] we ordered was actually battered and fried -- and not steamed. We couldn't figure out why it was called "steamfish," but it was still good. :) After dinner, we had a few drinks and played bar games for awhile before heading home.

And finally, I apologize for the sporatic posting schedule. Our phone line has been intermittently dead, and when it does work, we sometimes cannot connect.

Monday - 06.09.2003

Reconfigured tagging teams will go out tonight for the first night of tagging at the North Sound. We are all well rested (more or less) from a day and a half of break. It rained for most of the day and a large cell full of lightning was not far from the team when they first arrived on site. If there is threat of lightning, the away teams pull their nets in and move away from the threat area until it subsides, but it looks like the weather is cooperating now. From the radio traffic it seems like they are catching lots of sharks.

I tagged along with Grant, Alan, Steve, and Marta to set long-lines this morning. We will long-line for a few days in the middle of fishing the North Sound because the full moon falls in the middle of the six days of tagging; extreme tides and visible nets prevent us from gill netting during the days before and after a full moon. Long-lines are set by attaching floats and baited gangions (with circle hooks) to a long metal line. The lines are periodically checked for sharks, and if a shark is found, it is worked up (data collected) and then released.

During a torrential downpour this afternoon, a few of the boys decided to take a "shower," which in PIT terms means that they disrobe and jump off the dock. There were, of course, a group of girls watching who decided to steal their shorts. And I was there to photograph it all. :)

By popular demand, I have put up a preliminary page where rudimentary data will be posted as the team gives me information.

Tuesday - 06.10.2003

I woke up this morning to radio traffic at around 3am, but I was too groggy to get up to see what was going on. In the morning, we discovered that Drew had been bitten by a newborn shark while he was removing it from the gill net. The shark that bit Drew was described as being extremely feisty, and luckily, the wound was not a great one. Alan told me that it is easy to become blasé about handling juvenile sharks after being around them for so long, but a bite like this is a good reminder that we should all treat them with a healthy respect. Apparently, last night's sharks were all incredibly unpredictable, feigning death for periods of time before thrashing about without warning. 42 sharks were caught last night (24 newborns), far exceeding the 31 sharks that were caught the first night of netting the North Sound last year. The water was flat calm (meaning that there was no wind), and the insects were horrible. Eight hours of mosquitos were followed by a swarm of sand flies so thick that it was sometimes difficult to see out of the mesh face of the bug hoods. Those people without bug hoods (like Marta) came back in foul spirits, feeling like their faces were swollen from so many bites.

I fixed gill nets until noon with the home team, and then went to sleep to prepare for a night out in the field (I will replace Drew on Alan's boat). When we woke up, Jackie informed us that all of the laundry that had been sent to the dryer was, in fact, still locked up because they had inexplicably closed early. That meant that there were no dry towels available to take out into the field, and that any clothing that had been sent out to dry would be unavailable for the night.

Messages: [a message from Ruth to Rachel]

Wednesday - 06.11.2003

The conditions last night were miserable. "If I had a gun, I might have killed myself," Bryan said this morning, after we had returned.

There was no wind again last night, and much of the evening was spent sitting completely covered (wearing vinyl gloves, even), trying not to let the winged symphony of mosquitos drive us crazy. Even though they couldn't really get to us behind our bug jackets, the sounds alone were horrible. There was a three-hour lull at around 1am. The lagoon was glassy calm (and remember, calm = an abundance of biting bugs), and everyone sat around, completely silent. Alan and I tried to start a conversation with Bryan and Steve over the radio (the tagging boat had fallen completely silent by now), but no one was interested in talking. A shark or two hit the nets to disrupt the monotony, but for the most part there was no activity. I did get to remove my first shark from the gill net, which was exciting (I was on White Shark as a full participant this evening, even though I did take a few pictures).

At around 4am, Lesley decided to drink a Diet Coke. The gas bubbling up from inside her led to a radio broadcast of its expulsion from her body, which led to a "tennis match" (PIT-speak) of audible gas emissions from the boys. With our wind came wind from Mother Nature, which was what we had all been waiting for. The roving thunderstorms nearly missed us, but brought with them cold gusts of wind that drove away some of the mosquitos, and held at bay the sand fly invasion that had made the previous morning so difficult. Singing performances over the radio kept us entertained for the rest of the morning, and we pulled in our gill nets at 7:44am and returned to the lab.

The away team is out again tonight in smaller numbers, so the home team is quite large. Most of the sharks at North Sound have already been caught, and each net boat now only needs two people. After tonight's netting, we will long-line for four days while we wait for the full moon to pass before returning for three more days of gill netting.

Messages: [for Laura's father #1] [for Laura's father #2] [for Laura's father #3]

10:54PM: There are thunderstorms in the vicinity. The thunder is so loud that it is shaking the entire lab! Hailing from California, I am really not used to storms like this. The net teams are currently debating whether they should haul in their nets for awhile (which they are supposed to do if a thunderclap is heard within five seconds of seeing lightning).

Thursday - 06.12.2003

Doc came back today after being in Miami for a couple of days to restock the lab. He brought back with him an Italian film crew, who will be here with us until the end of PIT. We spent most of the day doing a major clean-up of the lab to prepare for Doc's arrival.

At around 3pm, Grant, Kristene, Laura and I went out out to attach gangions and barracuda-baited circle hooks to all four of the long-lines.

Long-lines are anchored at both ends, and floats and baited gangions alternate along the length of the line. Each float is wrapped in reflective silver tape, and each gangion is wrapped in reflective red or green tape. Long-line checks involve driving along each line, looking for alternating silver and red/green floats. If a gangion is missing, it is likely that a shark has taken the bait and is resting on the bottom, pulling it below the surface. To get to the shark, one of the adjacent floats is pulled up with a boat hook and the boat is pulled along the line until the gangion is reached.

Ultra-realistic drawing by Grant Johnson

Once the shark is found, it is gently pulled to the boat, and the gangion is attached to the cleat on the stern. This is done because large sharks can fairly easily pull the boat in the water if they decide to run, and there can be risk of sinking if the boat is pulled in any direction other than forward. Once the gangion is cleated off, the shark's tail is secured by a tailer (a pole with an adjustable metal loop at the end), which is replaced by a hangman's noose cleated off near the back of the boat. At this point, the shark is considered to be secured to the boat, and the anchor is dropped to prevent drifting too far while the shark is being worked up. All sharks are measured and tagged with a Casey tag. In addition, lemon sharks are PIT-tagged and DNA-sampled.

I went out with the first line-checking team at 8pm (with Grant, Alan, Johanna, and Ruth), just hours after we had put fresh bait out. More than four hours later, we returned to the lab after fixing a broken line and working up five nurse sharks (all large males around 7' long) and one lemon shark (5 1/2' long). Nurse sharks are usually left for working up after all of the lines have been checked because they can stay hooked on the line for a long, long time without adverse effects. However, the lemon shark had to be worked up and released immediately. All of the sharks we worked up fought pretty hard, slapping us with their tails and twisting themselves up in the lines, but the tagging and data collection went smoothly. Because we had so many sharks, everyone on the boat rotated around between logging data, capturing tails, measuring, and tagging. Head handling and freeing the hook were left to Grant and Alan, who have both had a lot of shark handling experience.

I almost forgot! Being nurse shark mating season, all of the big males had huge claspers, which were engorged and slightly pinkish. Ruth spent much of the evening holding them because... well, how often do you get to hold engorged nurse shark claspers?? I measured one of them. It wasn't the biggest one we saw, but it was still 15cm in circumference and over 30cm long.

PIT Program 2003 Journal, Week 3+

Friday - 06.13.2003

Teams have been going out every five or six hours around the clock to check the long-lines, but so far nothing really interesting has been caught. Most of the sharks have been large, male nurses, with a few sub-adult lemons and a single, small tiger. If a large lemon or tiger is caught and it is not too stressed, the Sharklab is called via radio and everyone is driven out to see it.

Daily schedules have been somewhat erratic because we are long-lining and because a film crew is here. The lab still needs to be cleaned, but for the most part those people who are not currently out checking long-lines or sleeping go out in small groups to help the film crew. At about 3pm, Doc, Marta, Bryan and I took them out to feed the penned sharks in the North Sound. They have a pole-cam so they can get footage of the juvenile sharks without getting in and stirring up the sand. The film team kept exclaiming, "Lorenzini!" whenever the sharks would bump the camera (a little Italian pride, perhaps! The Ampullae of Lorenzini are the pits that sharks use to detect electric fields). The conditions weren't perfect, so we will try to return again tomorrow.

In the late afternoon, most of us joined the film crew for a shark dive, where I had fun taking snapshots of people underwater.

None of the teams after us thus far have pulled up anything interesting on the line-lines, but a crew went out to re-bait them this afternoon, so the late evening teams will probably find something interesting. :)

Saturday - 06.14.2003

I started my day early this morning with a 5am check of the long-lines with Kristene, Ruth, Katie, and Jackie (yes, Jackie did leave the house again!). The previous team had caught some nurse sharks and a small tiger shark, but we ended up catching only a single 230cm nurse shark. It was, again, a large male with engorged claspers. :) The sun rose beautifully behind a bank of big thunderclouds; it peaked out briefly through a small opening, lighting its innards like the center of a furnace.

A couple of hours after we returned from the field, we took four boats out to help the Italian film crew shoot a lemon shark swimming in the lagoon. In no time at all we found four good-sized lemon sharks, one of which we followed around by boat as the film crew shot footage with a pole-cam dipped into the water. I saw some of the footage they got, and it was stunning! Doc and the more experienced volunteers were amazed at how cooperative the shark was, and in no time the film crew had all they needed.

After chasing around lemon sharks, Doc, Marta and I went back to the North Sound to feed the penned sharks again with the film crew. Marta and I were required for consistency because we had been in the previous day's shots, and we even had to wear the same clothing that we had worn previously. Again, the team used their pole-cam (and a rather large housed video camera) to get some great footage.

The rest of the day and evening went by smoothly until Alan's voice came in over the radio: "Sharklab, sharklab, sharklab, we have a situation. A nurse shark has Grant's hand in its mouth and will not let go." The nurse shark was quite small -- only 120 cm long -- but it was still able to clamp down on Grant's hand quite hard. Nurse sharks have no real teeth, but their jaws are incredibly strong, and almost nothing can get them open (Grant said that at one point he almost passed out from the pain). Doc and Kristene immediately left on a boat to rendezvous with them out on the long-lines, and 45 minutes later, Grant's hand was free. Bimini's medical center was unable to provide an x-ray, but luckily, one of the film crew's videographers is a medical doctor. He has some major bruising (and pain) on two fingers, but so far it looks like there was no serious damage. By evening, Grant was joking and laughing again.

Sunday - 06.15.2003

Grant, Lesley, Joy, Tarra and I went out at 8:30am for a long-lining check. The film crew decided to follow us for footage, but unfortunately, we only found a single 230cm nurse shark on the lines. With them filming, it literally took an hour and a half to work the shark up instead of the normal 15 minutes, because we had to position the two boats properly and do each step of the process several times. The film crew also wanted underwater footage of the shark on the line, so they spent some time in the water.

As we were checking the lines one final time (after working up the nurse shark), we buzzed by a large, 8-9' shape in the water. "Tiger shark!" Grant yelled, giddy, as he turned the boat around. "Tiger sharks have such a distinctive shape that you can spot them from a mile away. This is so incredible. Do you know what the chances are that we would just come across a free-swimming tiger shark??" I'm not convinced that I could identify one from a long way off, but Grant has had a lot of experience identifying sharks from the boat; he has spotted and identified seven free-swimming tiger sharks so far in his two years here. The tiger swung its square-shaped head around and slowly swam towards the long-lines, which were probably only a few hundred meters away. Doc was on the other boat with the film crew at the time, and when we radioed to ask him what we should do, we were told not to disturb the shark because they wanted the shark on the line, and not free-swimming. (We lost the shark. It never took the bait.) The other option would have been to run the shark down until it was tired and put a tail rope on it. Normally, large tiger sharks turn into festive events for the lab, and all of the volunteers are driven out for the experience, but with a few broken boats and the film crew here, things have been different.

In the afternoon, Alan had plans to replace his six sharks with six more from the tagging pen. The film crew decided to go with him to get footage of his research. Each of the sharks had to be anesthetized, and gape size (open jaw) and angle measured. Instead of trying to measure angles out in the field, Alan held the sharks both perpendicular and parallel to me and had me take photographs of the open jaws. He will do the angle calculations later, using the pictures.

While we were out in the field, Jim Abernethy came by the Sharklab to visit Doc and me. Kristene hopped onto the zodiac with him, and they drove out to the North Sound to meet us by Alan's pen. His live-aboard boat, the Shearwater, was anchored more than seven miles away, in the open ocean. We all thought he was insane for taking a little rubber boat with a 15HP engine on it seven miles in the open ocean, especially because he almost ran out of gas. :) Surprisingly, it only took him 40 minutes to reach the Sharklab (and an additional 20 minutes to get to the North Sound!). Jim came bearing gifts: he brought Doc some chocolate, and issue #2 of Shark Diver Magazine (which many people here have said that they will subscribe to after seeing it), and he brought me the special shark issue of Dive Magazine, which features a DVD with me in it! Most of the great hammerhead shark, reef shark, and bull shark footage shown on the DVD was shot by John McIntyre and Jim Abernethy during the last Bahamas trip I went on; you can see me swimming around with those sharks in the footage. I'll have to get a copy for my mom.

In the evening, there was more cross-dressing mayhem. Brian, Steve, and Alan once again donned women's clothing in preparation for an upcoming long-lining check. The girls had a surprise for the guys, however, which they unveiled when they reached the lines. Unfortunately, those photos are not suitable for internet publication. :) Doc says that the men here have been wearing women's clothing since the lab opened more than ten years ago.

We will resume gill netting tomorrow night, but we do not anticipate catching many sharks because most of the sharks in the North Sound have already been caught and penned. Crews are small, with only two volunteers per netting boat, but both the Italian film team and the Bahamian Ministry of Tourism will be out for the first half of the evening to entertain them.

Monday - 06.16.2003

"Time to be a gangsta' and eat dinner." - Doc - 6/16/03

Most of the day was spent cleaning and getting equipment ready for the away team, who is going out again tonight for the last three nights of PIT tagging. Joy went online and found plans for bat houses, which she and a few others spent some time making out of extra wood. I spent a lot of time catching up on web work and trying futilely to get the local dial-up service to resolve wetpixel.com and my own personal webpage (so I can check e-mail and upload this page!). We haven't been able to get to this web site from Bimin for over two days now, but I have been told that it up and running without any problems from elsewhere in the world, so I have sent these updates to a friend to upload. Hopefully you will be seeing these entries soon. (Update: it looks like our connection may be working again!)

In the afternoon, a tourist family came by for a tour of the Sharklab. After the tour, the father in the family said something like, "all sharks should be killed because they are dangerous," and Lesley had to give him a little micro-lecture about why he was absolutely wrong. That sort of thinking is very unfortunate, but I guess the general public has no way to learn about sharks except for what the mass media shows them. Hopefully, the media tide will turn as the number of sharks dwindles from overfishing.

Just before the away team left for the evening, Alan, Kristene, Marta, and Lilian went to the pens out back to do a stomach eversion for the Italian film crew. Kristene inserted long forceps into the shark's mouth and pulled out the partially-digested contents, and then the stomach, which sort of looks like a red tongue. Stomach eversions are done manually when researchers want to see what a shark has eaten, but sharks in the wild will evert their own stomaches when they want to regurgitate something.

Some writers from a French photo press agency arrived today to interview Doc just before dinner was brought out to the away team. The Italian film crew is out with them tonight, filming them set gill nets and PIT tagging caught sharks.

Ruth made a delicious lemon meringue pie tonight for dessert! We all enjoyed it very much.

Tuesday - 06.17.2003

The majority of the photos in today's entry were taken by Jackie and other members of the away team. Last night was the second to last night of PIT, and nine sharks total were caught in the three gill nets. Four of them were new captures, and five were sharks that had escaped from Alan's pen (the ones that we moved yesterday). Not much else happened today for the home team. The gill nets were fixed, boats were fixed, and Grant and I drove out in a skiff to swap boats with Doc and the film team (which was a lot of fun! we shot across the lagoon where we went out with the film team the other day to chase down lemon sharks).

Jim Abernethy came by the Sharklab for another visit today. He was impressed with Grant, Joy, and Laura, who serviced his zodiac's engine and fuel shortly after he arrived because it was having some problems on the way here (probably from the fuel we gave him yesterday, which turned out to be pretty dirty). I gave him a short tour of the facilities, and he found a good place to land his ultralight, which he said he would be landing here at some point in the future. :)

I'm awake in the kitchen with Jackie, waiting for the last bottle of desalinated water to finish filling. Everyone else in the home crew has retired to bed.

One exciting development: I have almost become immune to mosquito bites! They still swell up a bit, but new bites stop itching after only a few minutes. The old bites still itch, but they'll go away eventually. :) Sand fly bites are still bad, however. I've heard horror stories about them turning ceilings black from sheer numbers, in the past. I can't even imagine that. *shudder*

Wednesday - 06.18.2003

Tonight was the last night of gill netting, which effectively marks the end of PIT. There hasn't been much activity in the nets, and a lot of the away team's overnight activities have involved sleeping and as much socializing as energy levels allow. Grant, Lilian and I went out to deliver food at 11pm, and for the first time I had seen, all four boats (five, including ours) tied up together into the what could have been the beginning of a floating research compound. We all ate a brief dinner together, and then the net boats had to resume their gill net checks (and the tagging boat had to resume sleeping, presumably ;).

The home team has been fixing gill nets, cutting bait, and accompanying Doc and the film crew as they go out to get all of the shots they came here for. Everyone is starting to feel the finality of the coming days, even though only a few of us will actually be leaving. The rest of the summer will revert the lab back to "normal" projects, and the remaining volunteers will resume (and start) the projects they came here to research. At the staff meeting today, Doc instituted bi-monthly long-lining, which put smiles on everyone's faces. Even though long-lining involves a lot of manual labor, getting close to big sharks is always fun!

Thursday - 06.19.2003

The away team returned this morning after 12 hours of overnight gill netting for the last time this year. Instead of retiring to bed with most of the others, Alan took a boat out with Laura, Joy, and me to feed the sharks in the large holding pen and to move the re-captured sharks that had escaped two nights ago back to the pen they escaped from. Alan and I had a lot of fun swimming around with the little sharks (camera in hand), while Laura and Joy fed them from the boat.

Most of the rest of the day was spent resting. Members of the away team got out of bed at various points during the late afternoon and started reading, watching movies, and horsing around in the hallway. Doc had a meeting with all of us during the evening and told us that he thought this year's PIT couldn't have gone better, and that he was very impressed with our work -- especially given the relative inexperience of the team (only Kristene had participated in PIT in prior years). He will be leaving with the film crew tomorrow, but will be back on Sunday with food and other supplies. After that, he leaves the field station and doesn't return for a month. Life at BBFS should slowly return to "normal," which is to say that normal projects will resume, waking hours will be during the day, and some free time will be available to relax and to sleep.

Friday - 06.20.2003

The staff and all of the volunteers decided to get out of bed early in the morning to release the sharks for the Italian film crew. When I tried to photograph the Sharkland shark release, only two people were in the water to herd the sharks towards the opening in the pen, but this time, about ten people were in the pen, so things went more smoothly. Osvaldo and Pippo were able to get footage of a large group of sharks leaving the pen, followed by the volunteers, as they swam out!

After releasing the sharks, Doc, the Italian film crew, and I returned to the Sharklab while everyone else stayed in the North Sound to take down the pens.

Most of the rest of the day was completely free. I finally walked to Shell Beach (with Marta and Ruth), which was beautiful, despite the cliff that has formed from sand being washed away. The water at Shell Beach was crystal clear, and we swam around for awhile before returning to the lab. There had been a bonfire planned for the evening, but it turned out that dinner had been scheduled for 4:30pm at the Big Game Club, so we got dressed up (the girls, mostly) and headed north.

It was quite hot and muggy at the Big Game Club, but there was a nice view of the marina, and we spent a lot of time watching sting rays and huge tarpin swimming around discarded bait that had been tossed off of the dock. The group sort of split up and wandered around after dinner, but all of us eventually ended up at the Compleat Angler Pub, where Lilian told the bartender, "I've lost my cherry," (she was speaking literally) to which he responded, "Did you lose the box it came in?"

We ended up back at the lab fairly early, and groups split off and watched movies in various rooms.

I sort of promised myself that I wouldn't write about mosquitos anymore, but on the way back to the South Island, they were horrible. A swarm descended upon us, and we spent the entire water taxi ride back cursing and slapping them away. I received 12 bites on my right arm alone in just a few minutes. We gave a local woman a ride back to her place and somehow managed to find it, even given her drunken directions, which went something like, "go straight ahead, continue straight ahead, and straight ahead."

Saturday - 06.21.2003

Today was rare -- completely free -- but instead of beautiful weather, we were given heat, clouds, humidity, and rain. Kristene had stayed with us in the staff room the previous evening, and we loafed around during the morning, napping and talking until early in the afternoon. It was a luxury to have absolutely nothing to do! Even though it was a muggy, buggy day, some people still went out exploring. In the late afternoon, a small group of us went out fishing and looking for sharks (yes, we look for them even on off days!), but we didn't really find anything interesting, and we tried to get back to the lab before the ominous clouds unleashed their fury. It was fun to see Joy push Bryan off of the boat, however. He was leaning over the port side for some reason, and she just shoved him over. :)

The rain made the planned evening bonfire on Shell Beach impossible. Instead, we just sort of relaxed, and those of us who are leaving tomorrow packed up our belongings and cherished our last hours with the team. It will be really sad for those people who have been here for a long time to see Kristene leave. She has been with the lab for a year and a half now, spending every waking moment with the small group of fellow shark enthusiasts. Just past midnight, those of us who were still awake and not out in town walked down to the back beach to present Kristene with a special farewell collage that the three captains (Brian, Alan, and Steve) had spent a good chuck of the day making.

In the staff room, a few of us tried to stay up watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but at around 4am, we called it a night. Crazy shouting from mental hospital patients does not mix well with being half-awake. :)

A message to Joshie, from Ruth.

Sunday - 06.22.2003

Farewells are hard. The PIT 2003 crew have been here for 23 days now, having spent every minute of each day together. Even though only four of us left today, tears were running down the faces of many (but not from any of the boys. i guess we express ourselves differently. either that, or we're just emotionally unavailable :). It was touching to see how hard it was for Kristene and the staff to part ways. After being here for only three and a half weeks, I can't even imagine what it must be like to leave after a year and a half! The Sharklab becomes your family when you are here, and it is special that a field station like BBFS can bring together so many people with common interests.

I'm trying to think of what else to write now, but no words are coming to me. PIT was a wonderful adventure, and I have met some amazing people I will keep in touch with for the rest of my life. I think it may take me some time to adjust to "normal" life again -- you know, things like fresh-water showers, wearing shoes, telephones that don't cost $2/minute, driving a car, paying bills, and hanging out with people who think you are strange for really liking sharks...

To Doc, and all of you who made the experience so great: Thank You! (In the spirit of what some of the other folk here have done, I should have probably made a sign. Sorry about that. :)

PIT Program 2003 Gill Netting

Successfull gill netting is central to the BBFS PIT Tagging Program. This area of Wetpixel's PIT coverage will present an overview of how gill netting and PIT tagging is done here at the Sharklab.

Volunteer Team
the volunteer team		Obviously, an enthusiastic team of volunteers is necessary for successful gill netting. PIT 2003 consists of a team of 22, including staff. Most of the volunteers are marine biologists, with few exceptions.
Shark Pens
starting a new shark pen		Before gill netting and tagging can begin, shark pens must be constructed at key locations. The tagging boat must have a large pen to hold all of the captured sharks, and each net boat must have a smaller pen near the end of their gill nets to hold sick sharks and sharks caught during extreme low tides (when their boats may not be able to reach the tagging team). Pens are made of plastic fencing, rebar, concrete blocks, and zip ties.
shark pen assembly
securing the entrance
Equipment and Prep.
Fixing gill nets is an integral part of the gill netting process		A considerable amount of preparation is necessary before teams can go out into the field. Gill nets almost always have holes in them after twelve hours of netting sharks, and before they can be used again all of the holes must be fixed by hand. Each day while the away teams sleep, the home team fixes gill nets, cleans equipment, recharges batteries, and packs up boxes containing everything the away team may need in the field. In addition, the home team cooks dinner and delivers food out into the field late at night.
Getting the boats ready for an evening of gill netting
Gill Net Deployment
Setting a gill net		Gill nets are set perpendicular from the mangroves and are pulled taut. The water in the lagoons is shallow; the bottom of the net has lead weights attached to it and rests on the lagoon's bottom.
Net Checks
Doing a net check on foot		Every 15 minutes, net teams must check the nets to see if a shark has become entangled. This is done one of three ways: 1) by boat, if the tide is high enough, 2) by mask, snorkel, and fins, if the boat is away or occupied, or 3) by foot, if the tide is very low. When a shark is caught, it is de-tangled from the net and transported to the tagging boat for working up. To move a shark from the net to a boat, it is "walked," which moves water through its gills to keep it healthy during transit. When sharks are walked, they wiggle from side to side, as if they are swimming. In this state, it is unclear whether they know that they are being held or not. Sick sharks are also walked -- or bilged - until they revive.
Moving a shark from the nets to a transport box
Tagging
The tagging team, ready to work up sharks		All caught sharks are brought by boat to the tagging team to be worked up. After working up a shark, it is placed gently into the tagging pen so it is not caught in the nets again. The pen must be checked periodically to make sure that all of the sharks are healthy. To check the pen, a volunteer walks or snorkels around the inside of the perimeter, making sure that all of the sharks are swimming around normally. There are a few steps to a typical shark workup: 1) The shark is moved from the net boat's transport box to the tagging boat's box. 2) The shark is examined for wounds, parasites, umbilicus state (open or closed), and sex. 3) The shark is scanned to see if it already has a PIT tag (and is therefore a recapture). 4) The shark is measured and weighed 5) If the shark has no PIT tag, it is tagged at the base of the dorsal fin. 6) A DNA sample is punched out of one of the fins. The hole left by DNA sampling wlil scar over and can also be used for identification purposes. 7) The shark is placed in the holding pen. Typically, the working up process only takes a few minutes, and the shark is completely out of the water only while it is being moved from box to box and while it is being weighed. Some time during the evening (usually 3-6 hours after the nets have been set, depending on the tide), the home team delivers dinner to the away team. Boats are often tied together for a few minutes of socializing, but when it is too busy, the net boats rendezvous with the dinner boat to pick up food, and then leave immediately.
Doing a pen check
Taking salinity and temperature readings
Transferring a shark from a net boat to the tagging boat
Measuring a shark
Inserting a PIT tag
Taking a DNA sample
Weighing a shark
The dinner crew brings food!
Shark Maintenance