There is good news and bad news this morning.

The good news is that the last tag we deployed last year has come off  after one year on a whale shark. It was scheduled to pop off about 2 weeks ago when we started this year’s expedition. We heard nothing and were beginning to fear for the worst but it came off late last week and has been transmitting data ever since. This is really exciting because there is never any guarantee that you will get any data back. Sometimes you never hear from a tag again which is why the more you can put out there the better. We already have the other 2 from last year back - but they came off early after 6 months or so (also better than never coming off or getting lost etc) but with tag 3 from 2007 we will get the full year’s data which is brilliant.

However, we believe it came off somewhere near Pemba Island and was transported to a location just north of Mombasa in an area called Shanzu. Again this is more good news because if they come off in the big blue sea you never find them but here we have a chance because the tag is on land. We have been searching there every day since Saturday, handing out posters, talking to people and generally trying to track the tag down! We know it’s there because Brent is sending us GPS coordinates using the ARGOS satellite system but so far we can’t find it. We are dependent on the goodwill of the fishing villages up there to help us. If we got this tag back it would mean we could get to the minute data of that shark’s life for 365 days. It would be Christmas for Brent! It is really very unusual to recover tags - if they pop off we get a summary of the data which is not at all bad. If you get them back you get ALL the data plus you can reuse the tag again. It is the best possible outcome. So the bad news is that so far we have not tracked down the tag. It’s a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.

We have a film crew following our search today and we are hoping that whoever has it will hear about the search and return it to us.

Another tag has also come off - one of this years tags. This happens sometimes and although it is a bit disappointing because obviously we would have liked to get 17 tags worth of data in 9 months - 12 months time we must be prepared for these little hiccups. This tag came off further north of Mombasa, actually near Kilifi. Again we have been up there to search and that area is more remote so we are hoping that our posters and constant presence up there will yield results. If we were to get this tag back we could use it again next year and Brent would be delighted!

The tags only transmit for about 2 weeks maximum because then the battery life dies so we don’t have much time left.

Here is a picture of what a satellite tag looks like. They are about as long as from the tips of your fingers to your elbow more or less. If you find one please make our day and send it back to us!! Ours all have Brent’s name and contact details on them. If you can help us with our search in any way please let me know.

Wish us luck with our search!

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