A team of University of Miami researchers, including shark researcher Neil Hammerschlag, have conducted a study using satellite telemetry on tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) in an attempt to learn what kind of impact ecotourism (in this case, baited shark dives) has on the shark’s long-range migration and habitat utilization.

Sample groups were taken from Florida (where baited shark dives are illegal) and the Bahamas (where baited shark dives are abundant). Analysis of the data from each sample group did not produce a significant difference in the measures of movement and behavior evaluated by the study. Additionally, the data revealed information about long-range migration behavior among both sample groups that was previously unknown.

An overview of the research is available at Functional Ecology.

House passes HB4119

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that the Illinois “shark fin ban” bill (HB4119) was passed by the state House of Representatives yesterday with a vote of 81-33, after going through with “virtually no floor debate.”

If the bill is taken up in the Senate, it would require 30 votes to be passed into law, according the Sun-Times report.

The bill which was drafted by the Center for Oceanic Awareness, Research, and Education (COARE) and is supported by both the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Humane Society International (HSI), according to Christopher Chin, a representative of COARE. Rep. Sara Feigenholtz is the bill’s chief sponsored.

If signed into law, a ban on the possession, sale, trade, and distribution of shark fins in the state of Illinois would go into effect on January 1, 2013. A six-month grace period would allow fins acquired prior to 2013 to be exempt from the ban through July 1, 2013.

You can read Illinois HB4119, as proposed, at the Illinois General Assembly website.

Wired Science reports that a new shark species has been identified based on specimens of the species collected between 1995 and 1998. Scientists at the California Academy of Sciences compared the specimens with known species from the Scyliorhinidae family of sharks (commonly referred to as catsharks). The spot pattern arrangement on the specimens, as well as their coloring, appeared to be unique to the species. The species has been assigned the name of Bythaelurus giddingsi, with a suggested common name of Galapagos catshark.

You can check out the entire article along with a picture of the newly-identified species at Wired Science (not to be confused with the classic 80s film “Weird Science,” of course).

A recently uploaded video on YouTube shows a father and son buying a shark from a beach-side vendor with the sole intent of releasing it to the wild. After the young boys pays for the shark his dad hauls it down to the shore to release it back into the sea. The boy’s motivation for releasing the shark was to help conserve the animals as he goes on to say that “everyone should save sharks” and “we shouldn’t kill them.”

According to the boy in the video, the shark was purchased for the equivalent of $35(US). Based on the smile on the boy’s face after the shark swims away, and the celebratory high-five, I’m guessing both father and son considered it money well spent.

The footage is followed up by some anti-finning imagery and some unreferenced shark attack and mortality statistics. Personally, I think the video works better without it, as it somewhat ruins the upbeat and positive nature of the earlier part of the video. Besides, the boy did a fine job getting his message across on his own…but that’s just my opinion.

Grant Johnson recently uploaded another shark-filled video to his YouTube channel. This one focuses on the lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris) and was filmed off of Bimini, Bahamas. The video starts out with some footage of juvenile lemon sharks swimming among the mangroves. The setting later changes to deeper water to focus on larger adult lemon sharks.

A Marketwatch press-release announced the introduction of a new “shark-resistant” netting for use with open-ocean fish farming. The netting, dubbed PREDATOR-X, is comprised of both stainless steel wire and high-strength polyethylene fiber manufactured by Dyneema®.

Field tests at Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) indicate that the netting is resistant to bites even from large bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas).

Presumably, netting that prevents sharks from creating holes and entering aquaculture nets is not only beneficial to the fish-farming operators but also to any sharks and other wild marine life that could potentially get trapped inside the netting after entering through a tear or hole.

For more information, check out the press release at Marketwatch.