Tagging shark program in possible nursery areas on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica
Nowadays, the global decrease in sharks’ populations is an international concern. Therefore, initiatives for the long term conservation of sharks are promoted throughout the protection of marine species and most vulnerable ecosystems, such as the nursery areas. Generally, nursery areas are located in marine bays, estuaries, mangrooves, these are considered critical habitats for sharks, because they bring alimentation and protection for the pups and juveniles until their adult stage. Sharks are born and live in the nursery areas until they reach sexual maturity and then migrate to deeper waters around submarine mountains and oceanic islands.
The Costa Rican Pacific Coast is characterized by an abundance of bays, estuaries and gulfs, where different species of sharks inhabit. Despite of that, specific studies to delineate and describe vulnerable habitats, as nursery areas don’t exist. In this context, a shark-tagging program could be a useful tool to discovery some critical habitats for sharks and also, could bring important shark population parameters such as growth, relative abundance, and density, among others.
So, during this 2010 Misión Tiburón will begin a shark-tagging program, with acoustic and visual tags in coastal areas of the Pacific Coast (Gulf of Papagayo and Golfo Dulce) and in Cocos Island. In this project we plan to tag different sharks species, like the blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) and whitetip reef shark (Trianodon obesus), in order to describe the habitat use, the temporal-spatial distribution and possibly, critical habitats for sharks, such as nursery areas.
