February sapper mag:Layout 1 21/1/09 16:17 Page 37
Teams of four dived three times each day on a rotational basis in order to
optimise the use of the spear guns. The initial dives would recce the sites
Shark
for “cleaning stations” where the sharks would congregate to be cleaned
of algae by other fish. The divers would then lie in wait, often surrounded
by schools of many types of sharks, to ambush the target sharks with tags
or to take tissue samples and pictures for additional research.
The work carried out by the expedition will contribute to a research
project under the supervision of the Director of Field Operations from the
Shark Research Institute (SRI), undertaken in cooperation with two
Mexican research departments, the Centro De Investigaciones Biologicas
del Noroeste, S.C. (CiB), Mexico and the Centro Interdisciplinario de
Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR). In addition, it has been endorsed nation-
ally and internationally by numerous leading conservation organisations
including the prestigious Royal Geographical Society.
The expedition was hugely ambitious and an incredible experience. Aside
from the world class scuba diving the conditions below and above the surface
were very testing due to the remoteness of the islands and diving conditions.
The rate that sharks are being
needlessly killed is unsustainable
and most are now endangered.
The work we have done will result
in a better understanding of their
habits and help towards establish-
ing restricted zones.
Overall the expedition succeeded
in tagging 20 sharks of varying
species and placed 4 radio
receivers at selected sites. This
will contribute to data on the cov-
erage of shark movements around
the Eastern Pacific and collate
information such as temperature,
currents and visibility in order to
correlate the estimates of the
shark populations. Biopsy sam-
ples will be used for hereditary
DNA analysis to analyse family
groupings. The expedition cer-
tainly got a good tick in the box
Cpl Tim Gort
for being arduous team-building but has also partici-
pants’ eyes to the massive conservation problems and
the plight of many shark species around the world.
The Royal Engineers has a very active following within
the world of SCUBA diving. The Gib-UK diving club
based at Gibraltar Barracks has taken on the additional
role of Royal Engineers Sports Diving Association
(RESDA) which aims to offer SCUBA diving to the
Capt Richard Beck
Corps as a whole including specific diver training, skill
development courses and expeditions. Additional
details will be posted in future on the Gib-UK website
(www.gib-uk1216.org.uk).
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