During my visits to Raine Island with Dr. Andy Dunstan (DEH, Qld) we observed and filmed a number of tiger sharks. On a November expedition I was filming two tiger sharks feeding on a turtle carcass when a third tiger shark appeared and swam straight at me, before circling. I could clearly see a satellite tag I had deployed in April this year. The female tiger shark was called Zoe. Named after the unborn daughter of my shark research college, Dr. Adam Barnett. Zoe (the daughter) was actually onboard the day we caught her namesake. We knew she had returned to Raine Island to coincide with turtle nesting and it was amazing to see and film her swimming around with her tag. So far over the past three trips to Raine Island this summer, we have seen her each time.
In December on a research trip together with NHK television we caught and tagged a 3.08m female called ‘Jess’. Jess was caught using our ‘shark claw’ a hook free devise that fastens a buoy to the tail, after a short time the shark stops trying to swim away allowing us to maneuver the animal for tagging. However after being caught, instead of swimming off like most sharks she just circled the boat until we pulled her in. Jess also showed a very relaxed attitude upon release where she slowly circled the underwater team a few times before swimming off. You can follow the movements of ‘Jess’ at oceansiq.com.
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