TY - JOUR
T1 - First Insights Into the Horizontal Movements of Whale Sharks (Rhincodon typus) in the Northern Arabian Sea
AU - Arrowsmith, Lucy M.
AU - Paidi, Charan Kumar
AU - Bloch, Farukhkha Husenkha
AU - John, Sajan
AU - Choudhury, Binod Chandra
AU - Kaul, Rahul
AU - Sequeira, Ana M.M.
AU - Pattiaratchi, Charitha B.
AU - Meekan, Mark G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2021 Arrowsmith, Paidi, Bloch, John, Choudhury, Kaul, Sequeira, Pattiaratchi and Meekan.
PY - 2021/7/6
Y1 - 2021/7/6
N2 - Whale sharks off the western coast of India have suffered high levels of fishing pressure in the past, and today continue to be caught in small-scale fisheries as by-catch. Additionally, coastlines in this region host very large and growing human populations that are undergoing rapid development. This exacerbates ongoing anthropogenic threats to this species such as pollution, habitat loss, and ship traffic. For these reasons, there is an urgent need for data on movement patterns of whale sharks in this region of the Indian Ocean. Here, we address this issue by providing the first data on the horizontal movements of whale sharks tagged in the northern Arabian Sea off the western coast of the Indian state of Gujarat. From 2011 to 2017, eight individuals, ranging from 5.4 to 8 m were tagged and monitored using satellite telemetry. Tag retention varied from 1 to 137 days, with the sharks traveling distances of 34 – ∼2,230 km. Six of the eight individuals remained close to their tagging locations, although two sharks displayed wide ranging movements into the Arabian Sea, following frontal zones between water masses of different sea surface temperatures. We explore the relationship between the movement patterns of these whale sharks and the physical and biological processes of the region.
AB - Whale sharks off the western coast of India have suffered high levels of fishing pressure in the past, and today continue to be caught in small-scale fisheries as by-catch. Additionally, coastlines in this region host very large and growing human populations that are undergoing rapid development. This exacerbates ongoing anthropogenic threats to this species such as pollution, habitat loss, and ship traffic. For these reasons, there is an urgent need for data on movement patterns of whale sharks in this region of the Indian Ocean. Here, we address this issue by providing the first data on the horizontal movements of whale sharks tagged in the northern Arabian Sea off the western coast of the Indian state of Gujarat. From 2011 to 2017, eight individuals, ranging from 5.4 to 8 m were tagged and monitored using satellite telemetry. Tag retention varied from 1 to 137 days, with the sharks traveling distances of 34 – ∼2,230 km. Six of the eight individuals remained close to their tagging locations, although two sharks displayed wide ranging movements into the Arabian Sea, following frontal zones between water masses of different sea surface temperatures. We explore the relationship between the movement patterns of these whale sharks and the physical and biological processes of the region.
KW - migration
KW - movement ecology
KW - oceanography
KW - satellite tags
KW - tagging
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111067806&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2021.682730
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2021.682730
M3 - Article
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 8
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
M1 - 682730
ER -