Assessing the potential of acoustic telemetry to underpin the regional management of basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) ...

• Main Authors: Thorburn, James, Collins, Patrick C., Garbett, Amy, Vance, Heather, Phillips, Natasha, Drumm, Alan, Cooney, Joseph, Waters, Catherine, Ó’Maoiléidigh, Niall, Johnston, Emmett, Dolton, Haley R., Berrow, Simon, Hall, Graham, Hall, Jackie, Delvillar, Diego, McGill, Ross, Whoriskey, Fred, Fangue, Nann A., McInturf, Alexandra G., Rypel, Andrew L., Kennedy, Richard, Lilly, Jessie, Rodger, Jessica R., Adams, Colin E., van Geel, Nienke C. F., Risch, Denise, Wilkie, Lorna, Henderson, Suzanne, Mayo, Paul A., Mensink, Paul J., Witt, Matthew J., Hawkes, Lucy A., Klimley, A. Peter, Houghton, Jonathan D. R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: figshare 2024
• Subjects: Neuroscience; Ecology; FOS: Biological sciences; Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified; Inorganic Chemistry; FOS: Chemical sciences; Cetorhinus maximus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.7347167; https://springernature.figshare.com/collections/Assessing_the_potential_of_acoustic_telemetry_to_underpin_the_regional_management_of_basking_sharks_Cetorhinus_maximus_/7347167

Abstract Acoustic telemetry can provide valuable space-use data for a range of marine species. Yet the deployment of species-specific arrays over vast areas to gather data on highly migratory vertebrates poses formidable challenges, often rendering it impractical. To address this issue, we pioneered the use of acoustic telemetry on basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) to test the feasibility of using broadscale, multi-project acoustic receiver arrays to track the movements of this species of high conservation concern through the coastal waters of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Throughout 2021 and 2022, we tagged 35 basking sharks with acoustic transmitters off the west coast of Ireland; 27 of these were detected by 96 receiver stations throughout the study area (n = 9 arrays) with up to 216 detections of an individual shark (mean = 84, s.d. 65). On average, sharks spent ~ 1 day at each acoustic array, with discrete residency periods of up to nine days. Twenty-one sharks were detected at multiple ...