Surface Longline Fleet Help Tag Sharks

Ministry for Primary Industries’ observers on-board the longline fleet will tag thirty three mako sharks.

The research will investigate survival rates of shark by-catch of tuna fisheries in the Pacific.

The programme began in May, with all the tags expected to be on the sharks by the end of July.

NIWA has been contracted to do the project by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), who have funding from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the European Union, to co-ordinate and manage the project throughout the Pacific.

Warrick Lyon is co-ordinating for NIWA and said the tags will record temperature, depth, and light level.

“The tags go on for two months and then it takes about two to three weeks for them to transmit all the information via satellite before they run out of battery” Lyon said.

“Basically, it looks at the depth of the shark and if they stop moving up and down, then they're dead to put it simply.”

Lyon said the scientists want fishing vessels to run as usual, except observers will also tag sharks.

To encourage the surface longline fleet to participate, a shark tagging raffle was drawn up.

“For every tag that goes out, the skipper and the crew get one ticket,” Lyon said.

First prize is a $500 Pak'n Save voucher, second is a $250 voucher and third $100.