“How old are you?” is not a straightforward question for sharks
When we are asked the question “How old are you?” we can usually answer with a degree of accuracy. Things are somewhat more complicated for fish and very much more for sharks – and not just because they can’t literally tell us how old they are. The ageing of fish is believed to originate from […]
Contrasting artisanal fishing communities in the Azuero Peninsula, Panama
High fishing effort coupled with unsustainable use and destructive practices such as nets, has resulted in the loss of marine biodiversity and in the deterioration of marine ecosystem services since the middle of the 20th century. One of the most important of these services is the provision of food, which implies that the loss of […]
Sharks and rays: Our gateway to tackling urgent marine issues
Engaging students and the public about sharks and rays, and the need for greater understanding and conservation measures, has created an unexpected space and platform with schools and the public to talk about other urgent issues impacting the sea, notably plastic pollution. Like many island nations, Cabo Verde has a problem with waste disposal. […]
A shark is not always shark in Panama…
People are remarkably fascinated by sharks. Whether they evoke fear, love, or pure curiosity, it is usually not very difficult to get people excited about sharks, especially kids. This has been clearly evident during our education and outreach events in Panama this year. Since the beginning of the year we’ve been able to engage […]
Zooming into the things that define the big animals
Sometimes it’s not just the big things that inspire awe, it’s the little things too. The really small, microscopic things. When we educate students about fish, notably sharks and rays, we tend to talk about the whole animals, their diet, behavior, form and function. And yet to demonstrate the phenomenal diversity of each species, […]
Monitoring a large shark aggregation that feeds wildlife tourism
Tourism focused on encounters with sharks and rays has increased dramatically worldwide as people increasingly seek out the animals they once feared, and are keen to experience the thrill of meeting large marine wildlife up close. Successful wildlife tourism is predicated on predictability, and one way of increasing the possibility that visitors will […]
Exploration with Monaco in Cabo Verde
Our team of conservationist scientists and fishers loves boats. We love them. Big or small, but preferably trustworthy. They are a key vehicle to our objective of finding, studying and conserving fish. We usually work out of rather small boats 6-7 meters long outfitted with outboard engines that one can only work in during […]
How old is that fish? You’d be surprised.
An increasing number of studies are revealing that fish are far older than we ever thought. You may ask why this important: sound management of a fishery requires a good understanding of how quickly (or slowly) individual fish in a species grow, at what age they begin to reproduce, and how long they live. […]
“We’re gonna need a better BRUV”
“Wait, WAIT…WHAT WAS THAT?… go back… go back…!”. This is a familiar cry when we are reviewing footage from our underwater camera traps. Through this sneaky peep show of sorts we have made countless discoveries of big fish and other marine wildlife and their preferred habitats. And this work has been critical to understand the […]
How are our fish doing? Monitoring can help answer the question
Significant gaps of information exist globally on sharks and rays, collectively known as elasmobranchs, and this is proving a challenge to conservation efforts. The MesoAmerican Reef region (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras) is no exception. Honduras is one of 15 countries worldwide that declared its waters a “shark sanctuary”, which bans shark fishing and […]
The Deep: A new frontier for shark science
Standing on the veranda of our Belize based office, we can readily see the Belize Barrier Reef with its jagged coral reef crest, and beyond this line of coral and waves, the open sea. What many people don’t realize is that the reef shelf drops rapidly from a shallow 15 meters to over 1,000 m […]
Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leader
Building skill sets and knowledge and then applying them is what moving conservation forward is all about. Gabriela Ochoa, affectionately known by all as Gaby, is an enthusiastic conservationist focusing on sharks, rays and turtles and our National Coordinator for Honduras who has been keen to build her professional skills. After much finger-gnawing, she received the […]
Networking fishers across ocean basins
When Evan Cuevas grew up in the small un-electrified village of Monkey River in southern Belize, he never dreamt that he would become a trainer in good fishing practices. But that is exactly the journey this young lobster fisher embarked on earlier this year when he travelled half way around the world to the island […]
Networking fishers across ocean basins
When Evan Cuevas grew up in the small un-electrified village of Monkey River in southern Belize, he never dreamt that he would become a trainer in good fishing practices. But that is exactly the journey this young lobster fisher embarked on earlier this year when he travelled half way around the world to the island […]