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LOCAL Monday 1 July 2019

Continued from Page 14 Curaçao which found an tic telemetry studies these areas is just begin- efforts of sharks and rays,
additional shark species showed higher presence of ning to be understood. The but larger conservation
Findings (Cuban dogfish). In total, reef associated sharks with- ongoing study on acous- networks, such as the Yarari
In BRUVs deployed around at least 10 shark species in the conservation zones, tic telemetry (funded by Marine Mammal and Shark
Sint Maarten, Curaçao and were seen within the Dutch along with high site fidel- the Ministry of Agriculture, Sanctuary which com-
Bonaire the most common Caribbean in the different ity and small home ranges. Nature and Food Quality promises all the waters of
detected shark species BRUV surveys. Furthermore, as some lon- (LNV)) will yield more data Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eu-
were Caribbean reef shark, ger distance movements on this. Therefore, not only statius, are vital to protect
with Sint Maarten also fre- The acoustic telemetry stud- were also documented, are local marine parks cru- entire populations.q
quently showing nurse ies demonstrated that both interconnectivity between cial for the conservation
sharks. Overall, more sharks the Caribbean reef shark
were observed in marine and nurse shark have small
parks or areas of conserva- home ranges and strong
tion than in unprotected site fidelity. Large crossings
areas, highlighting the im- between areas were rare,
portance of these zones in and found for two Carib-
shark conservation. Further- bean reef sharks and one
more, when comparing nurse shark which travelled
the BRUV surveys from Sint between Saba and Saba
Maarten, Curaçao and Bo- bank. The two Caribbean
naire to previous BRUV stud- reef sharks made short di-
ies from Aruba, Saba, Sint rected journeys back and
Eustatius and Saba Bank, it forth, whereas the nurse
showed that the Aruba sur- shark after two years ab-
vey had the largest shark sence showed up at the
diversity (8 species) and Saba Bank before returning
the Bonaire survey the low- to Saba. One nurse shark
est (2 species). The Saba from another study on the
survey documented 5 shark US Virgin Islands was de-
species, Saba bank had tected in the network on
4 shark species with Cura- the Saba Bank, a distance
çao, Sint Eustatius and Sint of at least 160 kilometres.
Maarten each registering 3
shark species. There was an Importance of Protected Caribbean reef shark in the Man of War Shoal Marine Park , Sint Maarten.
additional BRUV submarine Areas Photo credit: Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern
test at 300 metres deep off Both the BRUV and acous-