The BBFS Annual Lemon Shark Census

PIT 2012 Rundown

DATA SUMMARY

the 18th annual PIT is in the books! With the toal of 174 sharks it is one of the lower years we have seen in awhile, save for 2008 which had 168 sharks. Below are the totals from this year's catch:

The number of sharks caught in the North Sound is pretty close to the average seen from 1996-2011, however the numbers in Sharkland have not been this low since 2002. We usually catch more new captures than recaptures as the mortality rate can be above 50%. This year in Sharkland we had more recaptures, but in the North Sound we had more new captures. Perhaps we lost a couple pregnant lemons this year and could explain the lower numbers, or it was just an off year. Lemon sharks pup every 2 years and we have found odd numbered years have a higher total than the even numbered years. Hopefully next year will live up to this and be another big year for catching the juveniles.

Below are the graphs showing the North sound and Sharkland catches since 1995 - present. The final graph shows the totals of each nursary from 1996-present.