Archive for the ‘Research’ Category
Remember I told you about the whale shark that was sighted off Mafia island in Tanzania on February 16? Matt Potenski, the researcher in Mafia, has sent me these pictures of our whale shark and its tag!! He told me that it was seen near the surface at 1125hrs. It was a male of about 5.5 metres
What you can see is one of our yellow fabric tags albeit with a lot of algae growth but you can just about make out K001 in the middle. Matt takes neoprene gloves with him to clean the tags and he told me he uses his XL Cressi freediving fins plus a lot of puff to clean the tag off so that he can read it! He had to get back on his boat 4 times and be taken to catch up with this shark 4 separate times in order to clean the tag! He told me “I simply dive down and grab the tag - swimming fast enough to prevent any tension on the tag string and vigorously wipe the algae away”. What a star! He also sent us a picture of the shark which will be sent off for photo ID.
Look at all the little fish around it. Isn’t it beautiful? We were so excited to hear from Matt and are so grateful to him for sending us the photos. I had to post this on the blog even though we are about to board a plane in a few hours. I wanted to share these photos with you. Please let me know what you think!
A big thank you to Theresa Siskind for making a very generous donation. It is our second Wildlife Direct donation and we are thrilled. Thank you so much Theresa! Theresa reads our blogs everyday and comments very often. It is so great to have support like hers. The project has no proper funding as such - it is something we are working on really hard. Every little bit counts and we need as much support as possible to run the project. Here is David, grinning like a cheshire cat! You can clearly see the 2 tags that he and Simon our other volunteer found last wednesday! We are so happy
Have a great weekend!
Amazing news folks!! We have found BOTH tags. Huge congratulations to our 2Â tireless volunteers David and Simon who have been tracking these tags for days. They set off again really early this morning and found the one that came off near Kilifi under some seaweed on the beach. They had called me 5 minutes before moaning about the impossibility of finding it and the inaccuracy of the GPS coordinates. Then hey presto they found it!! The second one, which is really the pot of gold one I have emailed Brent to tell him all his ships have come in! He is tagging elephant seals somewhere remote but I know he will celebrate tonight! We now have to find a way to get the 2 tags back to Brent in San Diego and then be patient whilst he analyses the data. Stand by for that interesting info when it comes in! And the trumpet shall sound.
Those of you who have heard Handel’s Messiah will know what I mean.  Many thanks for your kind wishes and whole hearted support. Just to let you all know that we in fact tagged a total of 17 sharks during the 13 day expedition. They tagged another one right at the end of the day and after I blogged yesterday afternoon. Brent took the remaining malfunctioning 2 back with him and we are planning another expedition with him for this November. The last day, yesterday, was a monster day for whale sharks with 7 sightings and 3 tagged. All 4 boats managed to enjoy watching and swimming with the biggest fish in the sea. This is Volker and Brent ready to tag!
You can imagine the celebration we had at Aqualand when the boats came back. It was like an armada of happy boats and smiling people
Our accoustic array arrives tomorrow and we want to start tagging right away. I am liasing with our volunteer pilots to see what we can organise by way of air support. Everything else - boats, accomodation, gear - is good to go. We want to put the array out by the end of April latest so that we can give a report at the 2nd international whale shark conference in Mexico this July. I have spent most of the day today struggling with the accounts. Maths was never my thing and I have a headache but am getting there slowly!! I keep thinking back to last week when we were in Watamu tagging. I can’t wait for the next expedition. I will give you a full report of sightings, tags etc when I get it from Brent who is flying home. We miss him already! I wonder how many whale sharks there were out there today. They must be wondering where all the boats and taggers have disappeared off to! This is Rob and Volker - we were all so happy last night!!
For me personally, the expedition was a chance to really enjoy the exotic part of what we are trying to achieve here. Swimming with the shark last Tuesday was definitely up there among my most amazing moments. Now we are planning to really build on the momentum and apply for proper funding so that we can get our project off the ground. This is me in Watamu - it was such a happy time.
Many many heartfelt thanks on behalf of all the whale sharks out there to all of you who helped make the expedition such a success!! As we say here “asante sana” , “thank you very much”!!
We had nothing again yesterday which was day 12. One sighting but they didn’t manage to tag it. We had a very nice BBQ at Simon’s in the evening. David played the guitar. We are really going to miss Brent when he leaves…We hope he will come back really soon! Today is day 13. As I write this there are 5 boats out with a total of 44 people swimming with 5 different whale sharks. We have tagged 2 more today, bringing us to sweet 16. We’ve done it!! All the satellite tags are deployed, I can’t believe it!! Brent brought out 19 tags but he is not happy with the working quality of 3 so he will take them back to be serviced and fixed. We have put out 16 satellite tags and will now start with the streamer or ID tags. Expedition 2008 has been without doubt a success WE DID IT!!! Julia is up spotting with Rob and she is clearly doing an amazing job. We have Rob in the gyro and Peter in the plane today. They report that there are whale sharks everywhere. I wish I was on the boat too. I guess you do too though so I am not alone! Here are 2 lucky people photographed by Mike the gyrocopter pilot last week.
I will update you later with the full report. Day 11. Zero sightings. Again. Rob flew up and down, up and down…until we decided to call it a day. The sea was so flat and the visibility was breath-taking at around 40m! Volker and David filmed and took pictures while we waited for sightings that never came. We have just driven all the way back down to Diani and are geared up to continue tagging tomorrow. We have 30 odd people coming on 3 boats to watch us work so I am hoping the Diani sharks are going to be more cooperative than their Watamu bretheren! We remain positive. Pray for whale sharks galore tomorrow!! Oh dear, our first day with zero shark sightings. It was a long, long wait out on the boat today with nothing to show for it at the end! Rob flew up and down like a trooper but there were no sharks at all! The sea was super flat, beautifully calm and the visibility was the best we have seen. Lots of plankton and jellies in the water (perfect whale shark food) but not a one in sight! I feel a bit discouraged but Brent remains positive and delighted with our efforts so far. Tomorrow is another day I suppose. We passed the time on the boat having free dive competitions, day dreaming and snoozing. Volker and Brent argued over who was going to tag the next shark. David really wants a go but despite his incredible guitar playing last night, both Volker and Brent agree that he is not allowed to get his hands on the USD5000 a piece tags! I didn’t get involved and I didn’t play any feminist cards either. Having never shot anything in my life I am content to simply watch and not fiddle around USD5000 tags! We got hungry (probably just bored with no sharks to tag) and Rob dropped us a food packet from the air. He missed the boat so Brent had to swim out and collect the bag. It was hysterical. What would we do without Rob?  David and I had a lovely dive with Steve Curtis though at the start of the day. We missed the rest of our team though (Brent and Volker)! The vis really was nice and David had his fancy camera out so he looked the part. We are doing a presentation tonight for the guests here at Hemingways. Tomorrow is our last day here and we will head back to Diani after a day of (hopefuly) fantastic tagging. Our saving grace is this though - GOOD NEWS, our first streamer (identity tag) “K001″ from last year was seen just off Mafia island in Tanzania. This is really exciting and tells us that the shark is still tagged and is still cruising around out there. I was going to call this entry “SAVING GRACE” but I didn’t want to over do it with the whole “grace” theme! Actually another saving grace is that the opposition have signed an agreement with the government today. Peace at last in Kenya. This is such wonderful news for us all. Hope floats. It really does. And more happy news just in - Rob is coming to Diani to help us spot. So we will have a plane and a micro! What luxury!  On that happy note, check out this beautiful picture I have just been sent by Mike Cheffing ouf gryo pilot from last week. Isn’t it stunning?
Wish us luck for tomorrow - we still have 3 more days left and are determined to get the job done! I think though that nomatter what this expedition has been a resounding success in so many ways. Thank you all for your support.
Day 9 yesterday was another record breaking day. We tagged 2 sharks. Number 13 gave us a little trouble and Volker refused to tag it. Brent took the challenge front one and whale shark number 13 swam away tagged. It was the biggest shark we have seen at around 9 metres. I watched its huge shape disappear into the shadows. Later on we tagged number 14. We watched the shark thrash its tail after the tagging and although we tried to find it again to film we kept missing it. We must have touched a nerve. The spotter in the plane with Rob was Dickie who did a fantastic job. Eyes like an eagle! We went for sundowners on Mida Creek and later danced under the stars to David’s amazing guitar playing. I am rushing off now to dive with Steve and Helen then I will join the tagging boat for another gruelling day of tagging and whale shark spotting!It’s a tough life out here!! We have 5 satellite tags to go.
Day 8. I early woke with a good feeling. I could hear the waves crashing on the beach just outside. I was so excited I couldn’t stay in bed a minute longer. I thought to myself “This is the day!!” David went up in the microlight with Rob so it was Volker, Brent, Lynne and me on the boat. We left around 11am. It was a beautiful day and the sea was flat although the visibility was “marginal” as Brent politely put it!! We had a lot of time out there, shooting the breeze, dreaming dreams, waiting, hoping… Volker was snoozing with his hat over his face when he announced that we would have 2 sightings then we would tag on the 3rd sighting. None of us took much notice! Five minutes before the first sighting Volker sat bolt upright. Almost straight away came the call we had all been waiting for. “Whale shark, whale shark!” We missed that one. And the next. Volker tagged the 3rd shark we saw. It was around 3pm. We were heading for home. The micro had about 2 minutes of fuel left. We saw it, jumped in and Volker tagged it. He is an awesome shot! I saw the tail in the gloom. Incredible.  Then the boat took Lynne and I a bit further forward to catch up with the shark. We jumped in again and swam with it for what seemed like ages. It was “trucking it” as Rob said later, as in it was seriously cruising. We swam until our lungs burnt and our legs ached. For a few seconds I was transported somewhere else. I could see it from head to toe. I could see every spot, every glint of colour, every remora, every swish of its tail. I followed in its wake as though my life depended on it. It was indescribable to be next to the huge shark and when we surfaced, completely out of breath, I was deeply moved. I close my eyes now and I can see that fish so clearly. When we came back I heard someone comment “Boy, that was a long time to be out on the boat just for a couple of whale shark sightings.” I tell you, it was worth every single second. No doubt. There is something about swimming with these sharks that no amount of money could buy and no words can describe. We know so little about them. And you get a sense of something so mysterious and magical. It is somehow other worldly.
That is us swimming with the shark today. I am calling this entry “Amazing Grace” because that is the best way I can describe how I felt when I was swimming alongside it. I will never forget today.
Greetings from Watamu! Watamu is north of Mombasa and close to Malindi. We arrived late last night and went straight to the bar to meet Garry Cullen the manager of Hemingways Hotel where we are staying in huge luxury. Garry and I have been emailing for months and it was really nice to meet him at last! We also meet Steve and Helen Curtis who own Aquaventures. They are kindly providing us with a boat and dive gear. Last but not least (and perhaps most crucial) we met Rob Dobson the pilot of the microlight and his girlfriend Lynne. They are providing the vital air support. We all had a lovely evening and a delicious dinner under the stars! A really big thank you to Garry and his team here as they are making our stay so wonderful! THANK YOU! We woke early this morning and after breakfast we set off. This is the first time I have gone on the boat, as Garry and his team have planned everything for us up here so I don’t have to do my usual admin and planning. For a change I get to enjoy the research and watch the tagging! What a treat :) There were no tourists on the boat either so it was just us. This means the boats can go faster and it is also a lot easier for the researchers to work. It is only possible because Garry and the sponsors are covering all the costs in Watamu. The microlight went up and we waited for our first shark. Helen was on the boat with us too and we all chatted, passing the time. I was enjoying every minute away from my desk and endless phone calls! We were caught very unawares when Lyn came on the radio - “whale shark, whale shark, whale shark”! In a flurry of excitement we all got into our fins, geared up with videocameras and underwater cameras. The microlight guided us to the shark, talking us through the directions over the radio. When we saw it, I was overcome. It’s been ages since I have seen a shark and this one was a big ‘un!!! Estimated length over 8metres!! Volker was first in the water and tagged it so quickly. I have to admit I didn’t actually see it in the water because the visibility was so bad and it was so moving so fast but I knew it was there!!! We saw the shark again later that morning complete with its tag and have now just come back. Showered, fresh and ready to blog! This is the flying machine that makes it all possible.
And here (drum roll please) you have the first ever whale shark to be tagged in Watamu.
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You can see they aren’t really that big so it was such a miracle that they were found. The press has also shown interest and I was interviewed on saturday. In fact we are in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam for work so have not had time to update the blog as much as I would like. Will post more news and pictures of the tags soon. In fact what you can’t make out is the antennaes that come out of the bulb at the top. I will post more pictures when I get home.
Nimu Njonjo and Volker Bassen report daily on efforts to save the worlds largest fish. Join our marine research, tagging and following whalesharks in Diani Beach, Kenya.
