BBC - Animal Camera Tags, Andros, 7-16th November 2020
Saving the Blue crew: Dr. Tristan Guttridge, Captain Cole McVay, Khrysdovan Caroll and Grant Johnson
BBC Team: Simon Baxter, Ellis Roberts, Sam Rowley and Eddy Raphael.
Special Thanks: Marcus Shirley for designing the camera tag packages.
Our objective:
To deploy high tech underwater camera tags on a number of different shark species with the objective of gaining an insight into their daily lives. The results will not only provide a deeper understanding of the animals, but will also influence our work as researchers.
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“Animals become wildlife cinematographers and reveal behavior new to scientists when they are fitted with lightweight, specially designed cameras in this miniseries that features turtles, sharks, koalas, bats, kangaroos and more.”
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THE TAG
Novel, high tech 24-hour animal-borne camera tag packages equipped with high resolution infrared video (up to 5 hrs recording), data logger that records depth and temperature at 1-second intervals, syntactic foam for flotation on retrieval and smart position and temperature tag for relocation.
The camera tag!
A Caribbean reef shark swims off with the tag attached
Ready for release!
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The Captures
Tristan and Grant set out with a mission of placing the tags over a ten-day period, and during that time they successfully deployed seven tags; five on Caribbean reef sharks, one on a blacktip and one on a large tiger shark.
As with all our work, the sharks wellbeing is a priority and our research comes second to their wellbeing. All animals were treated with the highest respect and were released as soon as possible.
Crew ready to depart
A large tiger shark!
A tiny reef shark
Tristan and Grant attaching the tag
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Concerns and early results
The tags provided a unique insight into shark behavior, revealing deep dives (~150m) from reef sharks along the tongue of the ocean drop-off and frequent forays within the reef structure during the day.
These tags also allowed our team to survey sections of the reef through the sharks, sadly some sections of Andros’ coral reef were covered with algae, which endanger corals by depleting oxygen from the environment or by introducing diseases. As the corals die off, the algae have even more space to take over, leading to further coral mortality.
The show discusses our teams ongoing research and how, in combination with other research techniques (i.e., drumline surveys and dietary analysis) our team are beginning to learn more about the role of these important reef predators.
Results show deep dives at night
The view from the camera tags!
Results show shallow daytime activity
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THANK YOU
We hope this short sequence for the BBC provides a glimpse into the life of a number of charismatic sharks and inspires people to care about our oceans. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the BBC for allowing us this incredible opportunity and for placing Andros and our research efforts, in the spotlight. Gratitude must also go our team and of course the BBC for their generosity in allowing us to use their imagery in this blog.
WATCH THE SHOW
Our team were excited to be part of the shark episode that aired in the UK on BBC2 and airs in the US 19th February, 2022. Please enjoy a few behind the scene, and in-moment shots above, you can also see a preview for the show, HERE, or read more HERE. Lastly, you can watch the full show on BBC iPlayer HERE, soon to be released in the USA.
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