Sharks from Ecuador travel to give birth in Panama!
Quito, July 3 (EFE).-
Scientists believe some female common hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) may be migrating from the Galapagos Islands to Panamanian waters to give birth. A member of the species had a tracking device placed on it in Ecuador and satellite tracking reveals the first scientifically recorded birthing migration of the critically endangered species.
This was confirmed by experts from the ecology and shark conservation program of the Charles Darwin Foundation (FCD), the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center, and the Guy Harvey Research Institute of Nova Southeastern University (United States), along with the Directorate of the Galápagos National Park.
According to information released by the FCD, the tagged shark traveled through the Pacific Ocean, between the Galápagos Islands, the coast of Panama, and international waters west of the archipelago.
Seven-month tracking
Using special equipment to reduce stress, scientists placed a satellite transmitter on the base of the dorsal fin of ‘Alicia’, as they called the shark, in February 2023, on Darwin Island, where it stayed for more than two months.
The specimen was an adult female with a visibly distended abdomen, suggesting a late stage of pregnancy.
This device, designed to resemble a remora fish swimming alongside the shark, allowed the tracking of the movements of this female over 2.7 meters, and knowing her location in almost real-time every time she approached the ocean’s surface.
At the beginning of May, she swam 1,300 kilometers to the Gulf of Chiriquí, on the coast of Panama, a known breeding area for this species.
After six days in Panamanian waters, she migrated about 3,000 kilometers to the west, settling at the end of July in international waters more than 1,800 kilometers west of the Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR).
Scientists believe she gave birth to between 15 and 30 calves in Panama.
During the seven months of monitoring, Alicia traveled nearly 6,000 kilometers, the longest satellite tracking recorded for a common hammerhead shark.
The last signal was received on September 3, when the transmitter’s battery ran out.
Follow the fishing
Pelayo Salinas, senior marine scientist of the FCD, pointed out that this possible first scientifically recorded migration to give birth for this species is a “crucial finding” that provides information about the complex life cycle and the long migrations that females make to give birth.
It also highlights the urgent need to protect sharks beyond the current Marine Protected Areas.
He lamented that, despite their endangered status, many pregnant females continue to be “caught during their migration, and newborn sharks are captured daily in most coastal breeding areas.”
The common hammerhead shark was classified in 2019 as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, due to an estimated global population decline of more than 80% in three generations (72.3 years).
However, the fins of hammerhead sharks caught in the Eastern Tropical Pacific continue to supply Asian markets.
For Mahmood Shivji, director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute and the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center, the information obtained thanks to Alicia, “should help better plan where to focus additional conservation actions” in the PEC to protect its species. EFE sm/ags
