The Galapagos

The Galapagos Whaleshark Project conducted a research trip during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but as Terry Smith from Pelagic Dive Travel explains, organising it was not a simple matter

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GALAPAGOS WHALESHARK PROJECT

WHALESHARK

Last year was tough. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone in some way or form. When COVID first started to spread, international borders started shutting very quickly to stop the spread. If you were overseas away from your home country, you had to scramble to make a flight back before the borders were closed (unfortunately, some did not make it in time and are still trying to make it home…)

The GWSP’s research trip was scheduled for June 2020, but as COVID-19 started to spread and international travel restrictions began to take hold, it was uncertain whether it would run. With several months waiting to see what would happen, there started to be a window of opportunity in July, as travel was just starting to be opened between Ecuador, the

US and the Galapagos. They decided to push for July, but the permit and permission came through late, so the trip had to be rescheduled for August. Luckily at this time, the borders between the USA, Ecuador and the Galapagos were open, but not for most parts of the world, which meant their partners from AUS, NZ, US and Japan could not make it. This meant that the team numbers and the funding were down as the partners also contributed to the overall cost. A deal was stuck with a tuna-tagging programme that would help share the vessel and costs.

TRAVELLING IN THE PANDEMIC Although travel was open for the team, it was a difficult trip to get there. Jon and Jenny had to travel into the US to pick up equipment, which meant a PCR test to get in, await results, a hotel stay, then back into mainland Ecuador, which meant another test (await results) and then 14 days in quarantine, then after that, over to the Galapagos for another PCR test (another wait on results) and a wait for the 72 hours for their equipment from the mainland to go through quarantine as well. Add to this the flight delays and flight restrictions compounded by the uncertainty that the borders may shut at any time, it was a hard few weeks.

ARRIVING IN THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS On arrival to the Galapagos in August, they noticed straight

GALAPAGOS

WHALESHARK project

away how quiet it was. Jonathan first travelled to the Galapagos over 30 years ago and back then it was a small community, quiet, with no tourists and created stares from locals at ‘who are these people’. It felt like it had gone back into that time. The team did notice that the community had banded together and become self-sufficient, with the growing of their own vegetables, the interaction of community members with art fairs, making chocolate and masks.

This action led back to the age-old form of bartering, a community trading with each other for their needs, a completely different feel than just relying on the tourist dollar (A positive in such a small community, hopefully, the banding and interaction of the community stays into the future as tourists return). THE TRIP After loading the vessel, they set out on their 15-day trip to their research destination of the Darwin Islands. The team was worried about the impact of the reported international fishing fleets in the area, as over 200 vessels were reported sitting outside of the Galapagos marine area plundering the ocean (The vessels were being followed by the public and had been found to switch off their marine tracking and duck into the Ecuadorian waters around the Galapagos to illegally fish). Thankfully, they didn’t encounter any vessels in the area on their way out, which could be due to the Ecuadoran navy, which had conducted a crackdown on illegal fishing, just before they arrived.

Upon arrival at the dive site, they went straight to work. The goal was to tag ten whalesharks, photo ID them and take blood samples (this is conducted in a non-invasive way).

Once underwater, the divers position staggering themselves at depth along the rocks to search for the whalesharks

A TYPICAL DAY OF RESEARCH The team would begin diving around 5.30am-6am, out of the water by 7am, second dive around 10am, with the final dive after lunch around 2pm. All dives were a maximum of 60 minutes with all dives completed and out of the water by 3pm for safety (currents are strong so there was a concern of divers travelling long distances). The afternoon was used for data download, analysis of blood samples (measurements of the blood gas concentrations and lactate acid levels, which are used to determine the basic health of the animal) and the ID of photos.

The dives were conducted in teams of four divers. Once underwater, the divers position staggering themselves at depth along the rocks to search for the whalesharks. Once spotted the group would signal each other and come together so that one person was to tag, one person to photo, one person to draw blood (if a whaleshark notices the drawing of blood or felt uncomfortable in any way, it was not pursued or hassled, though most do not notice the drawing of blood), then the fourth diver acted as a safety and documentation diver with a camera.

WHAT TAGS ARE USED? The team tagged a total of ten individual sharks, with eight SPLASH-10 tags on eight females ranging from four to 14 metres, two MiniPAT and Spot8 hybrid tags to were attached to a juvenile female and male. Of the ten only nine reported. Three stopped within 60 days and they lost contact with them over the abyssal plain. Only three continued past the sixmonth mark and none have reported for over two months now. However, Jon notes that he has tags go ‘dark’ for almost four months, so still has hope data will surface.

The SPLASH-10 tags record both vertical and horizontal movements with accurate data which can be used to determine the areas visited by the whalesharks. Spots and MiniPATS are two tags, the Spot tags mainly record horizontal movements and MiniPATS mainly record vertical movement.

Whaleshark with tag in place A tag in-situ

The team in front of the now-collapsed Darwin’s Arch

PELAGIC DIVE TRAVEL

Pelagic Dive Travel is an independent travel provider who prides itself on offering marine conservation based products, great service, new products/destinations. We focus on marine conservation organisations/initiatives and smaller operators that really offer a clear marine conservation conscientious focus. www.pelagicdivetravel.com

Three main important points were noted: • Evidence of a travel corridor from the

Galapagos to Cocos Islands — The satellite tracking of a whaleshark from the Galapagos Island’s to Cocos Islands with this the first-time data showing this corridor, amplifying the need for a marine park covering this route. • A whaleshark returns to the original area of tagging — A tagged female was noted on an 80-day trip originating in the Galapagos Islands and returning to the same area she was tagged. • Whalesharks dispersing in different directions but crossed later in the same areas — the tagged juvenile male headed to the eastern Pacific then back under to the south then entered the same area as the females off the coast of Peru. The tagged females all left in different directions, the female juveniles in a different direction than the female adults. The tagged male and the female juveniles crossed through the same area off the coast of Peru but the data is inconclusive if it was the same time.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR GWSP? A trip is planned for 24 August 2021, where the team will join up with the Georgia Aquarium, who will have a vet tech that will analyse blood samples for gas, lactose, baseline health and nano plastics in their system on a cellular basis. The study of the nano-plastics is a new area of study and they are hoping to show what level such nano-plastics are invading filter feeders.

They hope the trip will provide more data on the Galapagos to Cocos Island corridor, whaleshark return trip tracking and show new data on the amount of nano-plastic showing up in the marine life food chain (it is a case of how much, not if…).

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP? • Donations — The Galapagos Whaleshark Project team is in the process of registering as an organisation (a ‘.org’) in the USA and have filed all the necessary paperwork but are awaiting confirmation from the correct department.

Presently donate on their website: www.galapagoswhaleshark.org • Support dive trips — The GWSP conducts charter trips under the Galapagos Shark Dive banner. Each trip is accompanied by one of the team members who will offer tips on photograph, informative presentations and a shore excursion to learn more about the wildlife that inhabits the Galapagos Islands. These trips are not involved in the tagging or taking blood samples, it is an informative and relaxing trip. Your support on these trips spreads the word about the organisation and with of the trip cost going directly to help the GWSP expedition later in that year. (Pelagic Dive Travel also offers a donation to the scientific trip from each booking through them). • Photo Identification — Photo Identification is a passive tracking mechanism. From the fifth gill slit to the end of the pectoral fin, the whaleshark’s markings make up a unique pattern that serves to identify each shark as an individual.

If you see a whaleshark, photograph it and upload to

Wildbook, where it will be added to the database. n

MARINE CONSERVATION MATTERS

The case of Hope highlights that the work the Galapagos Whaleshark Project is doing. Without the tagging of Hope, which showed that she must have been caught and transported through international waters, we would not have realised the extent of such proliferation of our marine world. The GWSP team is dedicated and committed to protecting whalesharks as well as the entire marine environment. We as divers, people who use the ocean and in reality all of us should be taking note that the marine environment is being decimated and we need to support the protection of it for our future generations. Follow the GSD team on social media, get out on one of their trips and show your support! You can also support a marine organisation or initiative in your local area or even just a beach clean-up. Save our seas!