Greetings! Over the
next few days, we will be blogging from Moorea in French Polynesia! We will be working on a variety of reef
sharks – especially blacktip reef sharks, as we investigate their feeding,
behavior, and importance to the health of reefs. I’ll be working with Linda Heithaus, Jeremy
Kiszka, and Johann Mourier. We have a
pretty impressive array of tools and goals so it should be a fun trip! Hope you enjoy!
Mike Heithaus
October 20th, 2013
Linda, Jeremy, and I were up early after a late arrival in
Tahiti. It took two cars to get us - and
all of our gear - to the ferry, but by just after nine we were making the
crossing from Tahiti to Moorea. The
water here is amazing – crystal clear– and the vegetation is incredibly lush. After
a bit of a drive, we met up with Johann at CRIOBE and got the lab set up. Not that anything happened, but if anybody is
coming to French Polynesia, remember that even though your iPod charger can
handle 240 volts, American power strips usually can’t!
Most of the day was spent settling in but around sunset we
made it to one of the sicklefin lemon and blacktip reef shark nurseries where
we will be working. We set the net but a
combination of low water and heavy wind conspired against us. Still, we did see an adult blacktip reef
shark and a ray cruise through after dark.
Tomorrow we should be able to really get started if we can get some bait
early in the day!
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| Waiting in LA...almost time to go! |
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| Waking up in Tahiti |
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| Obviously we need more stuff |
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| Jeremy, Johann, and Linda at the CRIOBE station |
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| Waiting for the ferry |
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| Jeremy and Mike almost to Moorea |
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| Linda and Mike on the ferry |
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| The view from our hotel |
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| Setting the net to catch baby sharks |
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| The local dogs were very interested in the fishing effort... |
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