Project leader, Dr. Mauvis Gore, holding one of the satellite tags used to track basking sharks and tiger sharks. Photo by Rupert Ormond, SaveOurSeas FoundatioN.

With what seems like perfect timing following the shocking discovering of a dead pygmy whale on Cayman’s shores, four scientists arrived on the Islands last weekend to work with the Department of Environment (DoE) in carrying out surveys of the islands’ sharks, whales and dolphin populations.

The team consists of Dr. Mauvis Gore and Oliver Dubock from Marine Conservation International; Dr Rupert Ormond, chief scientist of the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOS); and Edd Brooks, a shark researcher based at Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas. The team will be assisting the DoE with surveys around all three islands and will also build on the DoE efforts to establish a public sightings scheme for recording observations of sharks, whales and dolphins seen in Caymanian waters.

The team will be collaborating with marine scientists from the Department of Environment whose Deputy Director Mr Tim Austin said, “We’re really excited to be working with this group of experts on these important issues. Sharks, as top-level predators in our marine environment are key components and we have very little reliable data or information on local species, populations and the pressures they face.

“Additionally through this project we hope to expand on local efforts to better understand what species of whales and dolphins use Cayman’s waters as part of their home ranges or as seasonal migratory routes, as currently very little are known.”

The project is being jointly funded by the UKs Overseas Territory Environment Programme (OTEP), the Save Our Seas Foundation, and the Cayman Islands Department of Environment.

The project leader Dr Mauvis Gore, who obtained her PhD from the University of the West Indies, said, “I am thrilled to be in Cayman again. The coral reefs here are impressive, but I’m excited that this time we have the chance to focus on the area’s sharks.

She said that well, over 90 percent of the worlds shark populations have been lost over the past twenty years, largely through illegal fishing ‘simply for making soup in distant restaurants’. She also noted that Cayman’s marine environment is better managed and so there is a chance to ensure that endangered species are not lost.”

Dr Gore became well known for her work on basking sharks on the west coast of Scotland, when one of these plankton-feeding giants (up to 10 metres long) crossed the Atlantic to appear on the coast of Newfoundland. The electronic tag fitted to the shark indicated that as well as travelling over 4000km, the shark had dived to a depth of over 1200m.

Working with marine mammals, she has for the last few years been running a project studying the whales and dolphins of Pakistan.

Dr Rupert Ormond, a past director of the University of London’s Marine Biological Station in Millport, Scotland, said: “Save Our Seas is delighted to be associated with this project, the foundation’s work in recent years has focused on highlighting the plight of sharks.

“In particular our Rethink the Shark campaign has emphasised the fact that shark attacks are extremely rare, often the result of provocation, and that many more people are killed by toasters and chairs each year, let alone by bees or cars. In addition, the research that we have funded worldwide has shown that the large charismatic sharks play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of the marine ecosystem.”

The project will emphasise collaboration with local fishermen, dive operators and boat owners, who will be invited to share their knowledge and report sightings of sharks, whales and dolphins to the Department of Environment.