Shark Expedition 2009

WWF Shark Expedition Report: John Rumney Writes of Shark Action and Research in the Coral Sea

On November 26th 2009 Mike Ball Dive Expeditions' Spoilsport headed to Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea for a special shark research expedition coordinated by Eye to Eye Marine Encounters. Onboard were guests, crew, representatives from World Wildlife Fund, the press and shark researcher Richard Fitzpatrick. Osprey Reef is home to one of Australia's most abundant and untouched shark populations. At North Horn, a dive site which attracts the largest congregation of sharks, researchers attached tracking devices onto 8 white tip reef sharks.

John Rumney and Richard Fitzpatrick have been researching Osprey Reef’s sharks for ten years. This expedition was focused on obtaining the fine scale movement details. “On previous trips, we have come back with information on shark movements and found some really unexpected deep diving behaviours. Every time we learn something new about the sharks it creates more questions. Richard accessed cutting edge technology to help find some new answers. The detailed information from research collected on this expedition will help us to complete the picture” said John Rumney. Attaching very sensitive motion detectors to the caudal (rear) fin of white-tip reef sharks, allowed the researchers to record each ‘tail wag’ of the shark. This gives very fine detail on the shark's movements and behaviours: how fast they are swimming, rest periods, depth, water temperature and can even track their movements within 4km of where they are tagged. “This is very useful when looking at shark behaviours, calculating energy budgets (in the wild) and even looking at breeding and birthing behaviours”.

Guests had a fantastic week aboard Spoilsport enjoying world-class diving, shark research, marine biology talks, conservation talks and getting to observe the researchers in action. Sharks are rapidly declining in numbers around the world due to unsustainable fishing (primarily for shark fin soup). Eye to Eye Marine Encounters' efforts to harness the tourist dollar to fund Richard's research and WWF conservation campaigns are all part of the matrix to save our Australian sharks from extinction. For more information on what you can do to make a positive difference please check the WWF website.