{"id":39538,"date":"2015-10-19T14:30:47","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T00:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=39538"},"modified":"2021-07-07T14:58:17","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T00:58:17","slug":"marine-biologist-carl-meyer-shares-insights-on-recent-tiger-shark-bites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2015\/10\/19\/marine-biologist-carl-meyer-shares-insights-on-recent-tiger-shark-bites\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine biologist Carl Meyer shares insights on recent tiger shark bites"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa researchers Carl Meyer, left, and Kim Holland tagging a tiger shark.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the recent<\/a> shark<\/a> bites<\/a> occurring around Hawaiʻi<\/span>, Carl Meyer<\/strong>, assistant researcher at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa’s Hawaiʻi<\/span> Institute of Marine Biology<\/a>, shared some interesting shark facts. Meyer is part of a research team using tracking devices to gain new insights into tiger shark movements in coastal waters around Maui and Oʻahu<\/span>. The ongoing study provides insights into how these ocean predators swim, eat and live.<\/em><\/p>\n

Insights from Carl Meyer:<\/h2>\n

Hawaiian oral traditions clearly link the fall months to a risk of shark bites. This traditional knowledge is reflected in our current shark bite statistics. In recent decades, almost one third of all shark bite incidents in Hawaiʻi<\/span> have occurred during the months of October and November alone.<\/p>\n

Shark bites may be linked to tiger shark pupping season<\/h3>\n

Hawaiians have also long known that fall is pupping season for tiger sharks<\/a>, and the ‘fall spike’ in shark bites may well be linked to this natural, annual phenomenon.<\/p>\n

By using modern scientific tools, we’ve been able to add some more details to the existing body of traditional knowledge of shark ecology in Hawaiʻi<\/span>. For example, we have shown via electronic tracking, that adult female tiger sharks captured at remote atolls in the Hawaiian chain are most likely to migrate to the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI<\/abbr>) during the fall months when pupping occurs. However, we don’t yet know how much this increases the overall number of large tiger sharks in MHI<\/abbr> waters (there are also adult females living in MHI<\/abbr> waters year round).<\/p>\n