Sharks are one of the most well known marine predators, however they're experiencing a huge worldwide decline. Scientists have estimated that around 90% of the world's marine predators have been lost from our oceans since 1950. This loss is primarily due to overfishing and was entirely preventable. The demand for shark products on Asian markets are ever increasing - sharks are also suffering from habitat loss. Many shark species use specific areas such as waters and surrounding mangroves.
Bimini is an island surrounded by mangroves. In fact, the island is the westernmost district of the Bahamas - 53 miles due east of Miami. The island is actually the closest point within the Bahamas to the US. Because of its healthy marine ecosystem it's a tourist hot spot. The surrounding mangroves provide nursery areas for sharks, other fish, conch and lobster. The lemon shark is perhaps one of most significant nearby species. The lemon sharks have been studied by the Bimini Biological Field Station for over 25 years. They're large species at the top of the food chain - this makes them the apex predator. They are fully grown at about 12-15 years. Once they reach this age, they're sexually mature. From here, they pup every two years for the rest of their life. The usual litter size is between 4 and 18 young. These sharks can live for over 30 years. They can grow a staggering 3 metres long. As part of their research, the scientists tag the sharks to monitor their movement and behaviour. As a result of this tagging it was found that they actually travel very long distances, one individual was tracked for over 1000km. The main idea is that once they've tagged the shark, scientists can look at how the shark behaves and interacts with the oceans.
Bimini is an island surrounded by mangroves. In fact, the island is the westernmost district of the Bahamas - 53 miles due east of Miami. The island is actually the closest point within the Bahamas to the US. Because of its healthy marine ecosystem it's a tourist hot spot. The surrounding mangroves provide nursery areas for sharks, other fish, conch and lobster. The lemon shark is perhaps one of most significant nearby species. The lemon sharks have been studied by the Bimini Biological Field Station for over 25 years. They're large species at the top of the food chain - this makes them the apex predator. They are fully grown at about 12-15 years. Once they reach this age, they're sexually mature. From here, they pup every two years for the rest of their life. The usual litter size is between 4 and 18 young. These sharks can live for over 30 years. They can grow a staggering 3 metres long. As part of their research, the scientists tag the sharks to monitor their movement and behaviour. As a result of this tagging it was found that they actually travel very long distances, one individual was tracked for over 1000km. The main idea is that once they've tagged the shark, scientists can look at how the shark behaves and interacts with the oceans.
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