The North Sound
The North Sound with net and holding pen locations |
June 1, 2009
PIT Begins with a Sharkdive
Caribbean Reef Shark (Courtesy K. Rubertus)
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Today marks the first day of PIT 2009. Some of the team met at Bimini Island Air in Fort Lauderdale and hopped on the plane for the short flight out to the island. The whole team came together with many new introductions and hugs shared between old friends. Once everyone was settled in we had the obligatory meeting. Doc introduced the project and we all went around the room and introduced ourselves. Doc ended the meeting to everyone's delight with the announcement that we would be going on a shark dive in the afternoon. Everyone grabbed their snorkel gear and piled onto one of the boats.
Experiencing the Shark Dive
text by Eric Holtz, new volunteer
Reef Sharks look for bait (Courtesy A. Young)
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"The shark dive was quite interesting. The trip out to the 'arena' was a bit choppy - and provided for a fun ride. Once everyone was anchored up, Doc told everyone to get into the water. The sharks had already started to gather around, drawn by the sound of the boats. Several Caribbean reef sharks darted excitedly around, anticipating the first piece of food to be thrown into the water. As soon as the food touched the water it was gone. The sharks moved quickly around, with several of them trying to eat the same piece of food at once. When that piece was consumed, the sharks moved around, quickly changing direction looking for the next piece of food.
Reef Shark portrait (Courtesy A. Young)
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As soon as the next piece hit the water, it was gone. The sharks ate right in front of the group, coming within 10 feet or so. Many of the sharks had other fish attached to them like Sharksuckers. There were schools of Black Durgeon, Yellowtail Snapper, and Bar Jacks that also took an interest in the feeding. As soon as the feeding ended the sharks disappeared. Doc told us we could snorkel around, and the group explored the warm clear water for a bit. Not a bad day for the first day at Sharklab."
Not bad at all - and a great way to kick off PIT 2009. Hopefully, this will be a sign of good luck and we will have a great shark catch...
June 2, 2009
Big Sharks on the Vertical Line
A Cuban nightshark tied to a skiff
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After an exciting first day, we decided that we hadn't gotten our fill of large sharks yet. We decided that a vertical longline would be set in an attempt to bring up some big boys to tag.
A vertical longline is basically a drop-line having an anchor and heavy weight at the bottom and hooks at intervals so that we can fish across a range of depths. We drop the line to the west of Bimini where the bottom starts to steeply drop away. The line hits the bottom around 500-600 feet deep, and may gently drag in the current. The top of the line is marked with a huge orange float so that we can easily see and locate the line.
Cuban Nightshark portrait
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After a soak of approximately three hours, we went out to check the line and see what we had caught. It took several people working in shifts to slowly pull in the hundreds of feet of line descending into the blue. The first several hooks came up empty, and
the anticipation was excruciating. Finally, we heard Doc yell out "Shark!" and could see the dark shape slowly materializing out of the depths as the line continued to slowly come in. A large, gray shape finally broke through the surface next to the boat and we took our first look at an eight-foot Cuban nightshark. It was a female, and had bites all over its body. This is common when sharks are mating, as the males bite and hold on to the females to mate.
Doc releases the nightshark
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This shark looked a little ragged from all the mating bites, so we didn't waste time, and got right into the workup. We measured and tagged the shark and removed the hook. After a visual inspection and a few pictures, Doc himself entered the water. We untied the shark from the skiff and Doc gently swam it forward. The shark was a little tired from the capture and Doc was gently helping it swim, pushing it through the water to allow its gills to get a recuperative dose of oxygen. Once the shark started to try and swim for itself, Doc took a deep breath and gracefully glided straight down into the blue. One final push and the shark was free. It swished its tail, and did a couple circles - a sort of goodbye - before disappearing back into the depths.
In all, we had two Cuban nightsharks on the vertical line, and another amazing shark experience for everyone at the BBFS. Excitement is high, and everyone on the team is anxious to get out into the lagoon for the start of shark fishing tomorrow night.
June 3, 2009
North Sound Fishing - Night 1
Setting the gillnet
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Tonight is the first night of fishing. The team makes final preparations and double checks all the gear. The staff announces the home and away teams for the first three nights of fishing. There will be four boats going out into the lagoon. Three of the boats will be setting gillnets and a fourth boat will be set up by the main pen to carry out shark workups and observe the sharks in the holding pen. Net one is set up on the west side of the North Sound, while Nets 2 and 3 are on the east side. The first night is the most exciting, because we catch the majority of the sharks. In the afternoon the away team gets some rest so they can stay up overnight to mind the nets. In the evening, the team gets up and does one final check of its gear. They gather equipment and pack personal gear for the long night of work. Wetsuits, warm clothes, bugspray, and rainjackets help deal with hours jumping in and out of the water in the middle of the mangrove lagoon through storms and bugs. Finally all set, we load up the truck and drive down to the dock. Equipment is piled in the boats and lines undone. We head out to the lagoon and PIT 2009 has officially begun.
Removing a shark from the net
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The nets hit the water around 6:30 pm, and our 12 hour set begins. The nets are left out for 12 hours to cover one entire tidal cycle. We fish at night because lemon sharks have excellent vision and we want the monofilament nets
to be virtually invisible so the sharks can't avoid them. The nets are divided into four sections,
starting at sector A in the mangroves and proceeding outward to B, C, and D. The water was near to high tide when we set, which usually isn't the most active time to catch juvenile lemons. At high tide, larger predators are able to cruise the flats, and many of the juvenile sharks move up into the mangroves for protection. As the tide falls, the action picked up. The radio crackled and Net 1 announced the first capture of the project. The whine of an outboard motor made its way across the lagoon as Sean made his way to the tagging pen to drop off the shark. Before long Nets 2 and 3 joined in and pretty soon sharks were being shuttled from various corners of the lagoon to the tagging pen. For some team members the first night is a trial by fire, as they have never removed a shark from a gillnet before. However, by the end of the night shark removal becomes old hat.
A shark goes into a holding pen
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We continued to catch sharks as the waters approached low tide. By now, the lagoon had gotten pretty shallow, and the skiffs could not make it over to the main pen. Near each net location we build a small holding pen. When sharks are caught near low tide, we simply drop them into the holding pens. This allows them to get back into the lagoon water and to relax a bit after the stress of capture. When the water level comes back up, we use a dipnet to get them out of the holding pens and then transport them to the tagging boat for workup. Most of the sharks caught this night were recently born, as evidenced by an open umbilicus. Lemon sharks have placentally-connected
young in a similar fashion to mammals. They have a distinct umbilical scar - basically a belly-button located between their pectoral fins. After being born, it takes a few weeks for the umbilicus to close completely. The newborns, called neonates, can always be identified by an open or partially open umbilicus. We caught 36 neonate sharks during night one. We also managed to recapture 14 previously tagged sharks and 52 sharks overall. This is a good number for the North Sound and actually exceeded our expectations for the first night. We are off to a great start and after some sleep will get up and head out again for night two...
June 4, 2009
North Sound Fishing - Night 2
Checking the net via a skiff
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The second night in the North Sound has arrived and it is a good time to check in with Kristine Stump,
the current Principal Investigator at the lab. Although she is no stranger to PIT, this will be the first one where she is in charge of the field team as captain of the tagging boat. She is responsible for doing all the workups, keeping tabs on the juvenile sharks in the pen, and having the ultimate say in decisions involving safety during bad weather. She has a huge challenge ahead of her but we all have faith in her that she will be up to the task.
The North Sound Night Two
text by Kristine Stump, "The Big Cheese"
Weighing a lemon shark
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After two nights, PIT 2009 appears to be off to a great start in the North Sound. The weather has been fabulous, giving us minimal rain and mosquitoes. This is my third PIT, but first as head of the tagging boat, an honor passed on to me by the newly crowned Dr. Joey DiBattista. Joey is making a cameo appearance at this year’s PIT, but this time as a net boat captain. After a successful and busy night one, the action died down a bit for night two. Here is a rundown of the data after two nights of fishing in the North Sound.
Catch Data:
Night 2 Catch: 10
(3 neonates, 5 recaptures, 2 new non-neonates)
Overall Total Catch: 62
(39 neonates, 19 recaptures, 5 new non-neonates)
Neonate Sex Ratio: 24 female-15 male
Watching a shark in the pen
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Our catch data thus far shows that over half (56%) of the neonate lemon sharks have been caught in Net 1, which is set in the northwest portion of the North Sound. In fact, about half of the total catch after two nights (48%) has come from Net 1. This data has important implications for future land-use planning in the North Sound, particularly in this sensitive area. Currently, land is being cleared for development of private resort homes, and plans include dredging a deep channel along the west side of the Sound. As the Principal Investigator at the lab, my project is focused on investigating the effects of habitat loss on juvenile lemon sharks. The PIT data that the Sharklab has collected for the past 14 summers has given us an incredibly comprehensive database of baseline data, as well as information that allows us to track changes in the system over time as a result of anthropogenic influences.
We will continue to sample the North Sound for four more nights in keeping with the standardized methods. With the great crew of staff and volunteers here at the lab, I have no doubt that we will continue on successfully with PIT 2009!
June 5, 2009
North Sound Fishing - Night 3
Sunset over a holding pen
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The first two nights have gone pretty smoothly, and the sharks in the pen are doing well. The weather has been pretty good, and although there were some storms in the area, we have dodged any direct hits. Winds have been fairly steady and are helping to keep the number of bugs we encounter down. All in all, the project has been chugging along without a single hiccup. Although we can't expect the entire project to proceed without some speed bumps, we can be thankful for getting ahead with such a smooth start. However, looking at the radar tonight told us that we would probably be in store for a wet and stormy night. The nets hit the water just before 7:00 pm
and night three was underway. The water was quite high, and the captains
drove their skiffs along the nets as the clouds continued to swirl near the island. Large thunderheads
were visible in several directions, and every now and then the flash of lightening punctuated their ominous presence. A small break in the clouds gave us a colorful salute from the sun before it
gave way to the coming night.
The boats gather together for dinner
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The only thing that distracted the team from the imposing weather was the fact that sharks started to hit the nets. As in the first two nights, Net 1 led the charge, and soon Sean was shuttling sharks to the main pen. The action was slow but steady for a few hours and kept the teams just busy enough to
make the time rush by. Before we knew it, the food run boat was charging up the lagoon to bring
us a warm dinner. This is almost everyone's favorite part of the night, as all the boats gather by the main pen, and the entire away team gets to eat a hot, hearty meal and share each other's company.
The lightening storm approaches
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After dinner, our streak of luck finally came to an end. A large thunderhead barreled right for the island, and before long the wind picked up. Slowly, the lights from Alice Town dimmed and disappeared in the coming storm. You could actually hear the rain coming, as the cacophony of all the individual drops splashing the waters combined to form a distinctive
"whoosh" as the rain got close. Rain, thunder, and lightening discharged from the heavens. All the boats hunkered down near the mangroves to ride out the storm. Walk checks were still conducted
every fifteen minutes until the storm finally passed. Everyone was wet and cold, but had gotten through the storm safely. Angry utterances from the tthunderhead
grew fainter and fainter as the storm looked for its next island to bother.
The team dives in to the donuts
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The night settled down
and we finished with 14 new sharks captured. Out of the
14, there were 13 neonates. We have caught a grand total of 76 juvenile lemon sharks in the North Sound so far. This total is indicative of it being a good year with a fairly robust cohort of sharks. The away team was further rewarded for is efforts when it arrived back at the lab. Waiting for the team was a special breakfast of fresh donuts thanks to Kiki & Emily. The donuts were a huge hit, and the away team took their full stomachs and went to bed. The end of night three marks reaching the quarter point of our fishing effort. Tomorrow, we will take a night off from fishing. This will give us a chance to catch up on sleep, repair gillnets that have been used in the past few days, and switch personnel around to get the members of home crew out into the field.
June 6, 2009
North Sound Fishing - Rest Day
Repairing the gillnets
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Today is what we call a rest day. This moniker can be a little misleading though, as there is plenty of work to get done. We call it a rest day because we will not be heading out to go fishing tonight. We take a one night break to get caught up on equipment maintenance and hopefully, get a little extra sleep. We will also be
changing crews, so that the team members on home crew will get to head out into the field. One of the main goals of the day is to get all the gillnets repaired. Catching sharks, rocks, crabs, and even the occasional prop can damage or put holes in the gillnet. Monofilament line is used to sew the holes back into panels of net mesh. After all those hours spent in advanced math and science courses for degrees in science, one comes to realize how valuable a simple sewing course could have been! The whole team
pitches in and the many hands make a large task go by quickly.
Lemon sharks in the main holding pen
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The team is very efficient and by mid-afternoon all the nets have been repaired and carefully packed in boxes so they are ready to go. Doc decides to reward the team for its hard work. The juvenile lemon sharks in the main holding pen need to be fed, so Doc organizes a trip where the team can get in the pen and watch the lemons feed. Everyone who wants to see the "mini shark dive" grabs their mask and snorkel and heads to the boats. Once at the pen everyone carefully enters the water and kneels by the mesh wall. Doc starts heaving bait and getting the sharks to put on a show. The value of all the work of catching, tagging, and measuring the sharks is
evident when you can observe the juveniles in action. Their speed and beauty underwater are breathtaking. Our work helps us to better understand the lemon sharks, and hopefully ensure that they will continue to swim in these lagoons for others to see for a long time.
June 7, 2009
North Sound Fishing - Night 4
Measuring the total length
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After a good night's sleep the team is refreshed and ready to jump back into the fishing schedule. We have changed up the crews and the crew members who had been on home team are very enthusiastic about getting out in the field. We have also reduced the amount of people in the field, as there will be fewer sharks caught in the upcoming nights than in the first three days. We expect a decent catch tonight and then the catch to drop off - maybe getting a couple stragglers on the last two nights. It has been a good year already, but we want to add sharks to the total and hopefully catch every juvenile that patrols the North Sound. A flurry of activity occurs to make final preparations. Lists are reviewed and all the equipment is double checked. Everyone prepares diversions for the long hours ahead, packing books and charging music players to pass the time between net checks. The wee hours of the morning, just before the sun comes up, are always the toughest. Reading or listening to music is a good way to stay awake until you hit your second wind at dawn. Fully prepared, the team loads up on its boats and heads out to set the nets.
The Famous Burrito assembly line
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The nets hit the water and the fishing begins. Meanwhile, back at the lab the home team is conducting a well-loved PIT ritual. Tonight is a very special night - it's BURRITO night. Everyone gets very excited for burrito night. The away team gets a hearty meal while in the field and the home team gets both the fun of making the burritos and an easy and quick drop off on the dinner run. Everyone on the away team fills out an order from a list of ingredients and a burrito assembly line is formed on the main dining tables. Tortillas, beans, corn, and veggies start flying as plates glide down the table. The final step is the careful folding and packaging of the burritos in aluminum foil. Names are written on each finely wrapped burrito and they are set to be sent out to the away team.
Transferring a shark to the tagging boat
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The away team congregates at the main pen for dinner and eagerly digs in to its burrito feast. The net boats head back to posts with full bellies and buckle down into their routines. The action is slow but as the tide falls a couple sharks start making appearances in the nets. Net two has been pretty quiet, but in the early morning Joey finds a big surprise - literally - with a meter plus lemon shark in his net. He excitedly gets on the radio to the tagging boat to let them know he is bringing over a monster. The radio chatter wakes up the tagging boat from a catnap, and they spring into action to receive the shark. Fresh seawater is
bucketed into a holding tank and into the measuring trough. The shark is dropped off,
and the tagging crew starts to wrestle with it. This shark is almost too big for the measuring trough, checking in at 111cm (over 3 1/2 feet). This beast is almost twice the size of some of the neonates. We will have to make sure he is well fed, otherwise he may try to make a snack of one of his cohorts in the main pen. Overall, the team manages to catch 10 sharks for the night - pretty respectable. This brings the total up to 86, and cements this year's North sound catch as one of the highest we have had.
June 8, 2009
North Sound Fishing - Night 5
For the last couple years, Joey DiBattista has led the PIT project as Captain of the tagging boat. He has recently completed his PhD with data he collected from Bimini over the last few years. This year he has handed the reins over to Kristine, and happily makes the transition to running one of the gillnets as a boat Captain.
North Sound Night 5
"aka The Battle of the Bulging Bugs"
text by Dr. Joey DiBattista, Net 2 Captain
Eric records shark data
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It begins again… another night, another new set of adventures. Night five started out with an ominous tone. Indeed, due to the changing tides we were forced to set late, 7:20 p.m. to be exact. And so we lay out our gillnets as darkness swept across the sky. A streak of menacing rain clouds threatened to the west, belching out thunderous roars and spitting lightning frequently. Luck was with us this night though, as the storm system progressed on past the islands, and we were clear of nasty weather the entire night.
This PIT has definitely been a new experience for me. I was tagging boat captain each of the last three years, and therefore spent the majority of my time tagging sharks and taking genetic samples for my project. This year I am serving as a captain on one of the net boats, which means I get to remove sharks from the gillnet and deliver them (in good condition), tide permitting, to the tagging boat. Night five was quite slow on net two. In fact, we caught zero sharks despite vigilantly checking our net every 15 minutes. My one crew member, Diego, was disappointed to say the least after each and every check. Upon starting the engine to drive down the length of the net, Diego’s face would light up like an innocent puppy dog, a hopeful smile forming at the corners of his mouth, and yet after finding nothing he would come back to our anchoring spot dejected, a husk of his former self. And so it goes…
Gillnetting under a full moon
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The bugs definitely made things a little miserable on night five. Immediately after the food run dropped off the delicious dinner of chicken pot pie and cornbread, the wind died completely. So for the next six hours the bugs came out in force, somehow traversing the still waters to our boat stationed well away from the mangroves. We were privy to the holy trinity of insects: mosquitoes, sand flies (also known as no-see-ums), and horse flies. Yet we are always prepared at the Sharklab for situations like this, and so all crews covered themselves from head to toe in bug gear and smeared copious amounts of bug repellent on our skin. It is amazing to see everyone battle their internal demons at this point, trying not to go insane from the thousands of sand flies crawling over their bodies, or the incessant buzzing of the clouds of mosquitoes. Radio chatter amongst the boats was kept to a minimum as everyone dealt with this annoyance in their own way. The only thing we heard in fact between the hours of 1 am and 6 am was Hollie reporting over the radio that two mature nurse sharks were mating near her net, as evidenced by the intermittent slapping of shark tails on the water surface close to their boat. As the light drew near, Hollie also spotted a mangrove snapper gulping up a pot-bellied seahorse. Survival of the fittest…
Inserting a PIT tag into a shark
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Having set late, we were scheduled to haul late, and so everyone had the opportunity to witness an amazing sunrise in the Bahamas. I am aware that the sun rises each and every morning, and yet this one was special for me. The yellows, oranges, and crimsons blended delightfully in the morning sky and pushed their way through a few sparse puffs of clouds, thus announcing the day. Any member of the sampling team that did not shed a tear at this moment either has no soul, or is lying to protect his “manhood”; I wept like a baby.
On this night we caught 3 neonate sharks, none of which had previously been tagged. Newbies!!! This also brought our total to 89 sharks overall, our second highest total in the North Sound since PIT officially began in 1995. This is definitely a good sign; pregnant female lemon sharks appear to be using this site for parturition despite the environmental degradation associated with major development projects in the area (i.e., an extensive decrease in mangrove and seagrass cover). One more night of fishing to go and we’ve reached half-time... and then on to Sharkland.
June 9, 2009
North Sound Fishing - Night 6
text by Joris Van Kessel, Net 3 Captain
A lemon ready for workup
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It‘s the last day of fishing in the North Sound. After five nights it has been pretty successful. The expectations for tonight are not that high. We should have caught almost all the little neonates by now, so each shark that we catch now is a bonus.
As we put our nets in the water, a big ball of fire was setting behind us. It was getting dark pretty quick, but the water-gods seem to favor us. After dealing with lightning, rain, mosquitoes and sand flies over the last couple of days, this last night turned out to be an absolute blessing. It was deathly calm with no bugs in sight. Still, there was some awesome wildlife near the boats. The water was teaming with bioluminescent organisms. They all gave a wonderfull show in between checks.
While the all the nets mainly caught water, Net 2 finally got lucky. Around 11:00 pm the first and probably last shark of the night was brought over to the taggingboat. It wasn’t a neonate, so maybe there was still one waiting for us.
Not long after that we all assembled at the taggingboat for some good old spaghetti and meatballs. As you might expect from people who have been in the field all night, some humor was to be found in the dinner and comments about “balls” where flying all over the North Sound. “Hollie, stay healthy!” After the laughter and a good meal, we all headed back to our nets.
Joey enjoys the calm night
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As the sun got up in the morning and blessed us with its warm rays, it seemed that we had caught all the sharks in the area. As it was the last night of fishing in the North Sound, each net had to take down its little holding pen and prepare it to be moved to Sharkland. As we were about to start taking down the little holding pens, Net 1 came with the news of an new capture. This one doubled the total catch of the day and made the North Sound surpass a landmark. The total of 91 sharks is the second highest catch in the history of PIT for the North Sound. The last shark was worked-up, the pens were taken down and all the nets were hauled. The crew left the North Sound with the sun on their faces, a completely satisfied feeling and now eagerly awaits discovering what Sharkland will bring this year. The team headed home to a well earned rest and the home crew sprung into action. The next couple days will be "rest" days - though there is a lot to accomplish. The days of rest will basically be used to get us fully prepared to gillnet in the lower part of the lagoon, which we call Sharkland. Sharklab will as always be a beehive of activity.
Cleaning the gear in the morning
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The home crew has a lot to do today. Every day that the away crew comes home they eat and go to bed. Meanwhile, the home crew
takes all the gear that came in from the field and carefully goes through it all. Equipment is cleaned, checked, fixed, or refreshed as needed. Batteries are replaced or put on charge. Laundry is rinsed in fresh water and hung out on the lines to dry. Thermoses and snack boxes are emptied and cleaned out. By the time the away team wakes up, everything is ready for them to go out again. Today, however, most equipment is stowed away because we will not be fishing for three days. The break allows us to repair all the gillnets and accounts for changes in the magnitude of the tides. The first night of Sharkland is the most hectic night of PIT and the team will be ready for it.
Tomorrow we will have the big release of the baby lemons from the main pen.
June 10, 2009
North Sound Fishing - Rest Day
Cleaning thermoses on home crew
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The morning was spent cleaning gear as the away crew got some rest. The home crew worked its way through all the gear boxes, clothes, and food-related items. The priority for today is to work on the gillnets. We have several nets that have been used over the course of the last few nights, and all of them need to be checked and any holes repaired.
Hours roll by in the hot Bahamian sun, but the team stays the course with the help of liberal applications of sunscreen. By the late afternoon, the away team wakes up and comes out to help with the nets. The extra hands make the work move quickly, and finally, the last net is stiched up and boxed for use in Sharkland.
Having all the nets repaired puts us in a great position for Sharkland preparation. We also need to build five shark pens in the next few days. There will be a new main holding pen, a smaller holding pen, and the three holding pens for the individual nets. Building the pens will involve almost everyone and probably take more than one full day. For this evening though, the team can sit back, take a deep breath, and enjoy the amount of success it has had to date. There is a certain buzz and energy prevalent across the house. The teams have been split since fishing began, and this is the first time the entire crew has been together in a while.
Grilling barbeque chicken for the entire team
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Additionally, everyone is feeling very satisfied with the completion of the North Sound fishing.
The project has been moving along very smoothly so far, and the total sharks captured makes this year's North Sound effort a resounding success. We plan on having a large dinner for everyone together. The grill is fired up and lots of chicken is covered in barbecue sauce. Tofu is prepared for the vegetarians. Everyone sits down for the feast and to talk and laugh together. There is a great feeling of mirth and friendship that has permeated the team this year and working with everyone has been a real pleasure. Excitement is high because tomorrow we will release all the North Sound sharks from the main holding pen and officially close the books on the North Sound 2009.
June 11, 2009
North Sound Fishing - Shark Release
Portrait of a juvenile lemon shark
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The official end of the North Sound occurs today with the release of all the juvenile lemons we captured in the last week of gillnetting and the dismantling of the main holding pen. The entire team gathers at the main holding pen and we deploy a seine net to corral the sharks near the entrance gate. The gate is then unclipped and unzipped so that the door can be thrown wide open. The sharks slowly figure out their way to freedom, although some seem reluctant to leave their temporary home and double back into the pen. The release is a big success, with the juveniles finally swimming out to the friendly waters of the lagoon to resume their lives and struggles in the North Sound. The main pen is then torn down and all the materials transported to the southern part of the lagoon, where new pens have to be erected. Hollie is a returning volunteer and PIT veteran and will share her experience of the day...
text by Hollie Neibert, Multiple PIT Volunteer
Juvenile lemons in the pen
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Today was Pen Building Day for Sharkland! The away and home crews had already torn down and moved the net pens mesh, cinder blocks, and rebar to the correct GPS locations. We divided up into teams and each tackled a net pen. The ocean floor in Sharkland ranges from limestone rock to knee deep vegetation - needless to say its always an interesting experience. In between drowning each other, pounding rebar, ziptie super heroes, and filling cinder blocks, we managed to all get together and release the baby sharks from the North Sound main pen (with a full belly!) It was absolutely amazing to see 90 baby lemons swim away together, back to their homes in the mangroves! After the net pens were built, we needed everyone to build the Main Pen and Stomach Eversion Pen. The Main Pen is 24 meters long and approximately 9.6 meters wide. We stake out the perimeter and then wrap the mesh around the outside. It seems like it would be a pretty easy process, but figuring out which side is up, which side goes in, stinging epiphites, dragging that much mesh around in the current, the occasional cameo by Jack Sparrow, pulling the slack from one side and then the other .... its always and adventure and still one of my favorite things to do!
Lemons cruise the holding pen
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The tides are tricky in Sharkland and a channel has to be marked with reflective floats from Net 3 back to the Main Pen. It is always a race to beat the low tide even when building pens. This year, however, zipties were the deciding factor! We had put in a long day but when we arrived at home everyone was thrilled to find one of our favorite meals - FAJITAS - waiting for us!! Everything is set and ready to go for the second half and most exciting part of PIT - SHARKLAND!!
As Hollie says - we are moving on to Sharkland. The team has put in a great effort so far, and the North Sound has been a great success. However, the North Sound is a warmup for the lower lagoon, where we can expect more sharks, bigger sharks, and deep mud which will challenge every member of the team to bring their "A" game...To kick off Sharkland, tomorrow we will set a vertical longline in deep water west of the island. Hopefully we will catch some big sharks to get the team pumped up.
The PIT 2009 Lemon Shark Census continues in Sharkland.
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