Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Gardiner, Jayne

Area of Concentration

Marine Biology

Abstract

Elasmobranchs, known as the cartilaginous fishes and including sharks, skates, and rays, play a critical role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Through tag-recapture studies, many factors that influence the population model for elasmobranch populations can be investigated to monitor the health of a fish stock. A triple tagging method was used, where the tertiary tag was a triangular notch punched in the first dorsal fin of the shark to provide indication for whether it was part of the 2017 in the case of tag shedding. This study didn’t find a significant difference between the recapture rates of blacktip sharks captured in Terra Bay and Sarasota Bay, Florida in 2017 as compared to the recaptured blacktip sharks in the NOAA Gulf of Mexico Shark Pupping and Nursery (GULFSPAN) Survey from 2000-2016. A 100% tag retention rate was observed in sharks that were recaptured in both dataset. The life history of the blacktip shark and juvenile site-fidelity has only been studied for Terra Ceia Bay, Florida, but two-thirds of the recaptured blacktip sharks in the NOAA GULFSPAN survey were captured and recaptured within their early life stages in the same or adjacent bay indicating that these juveniles are also presence of site-fidelity in other bays along the northwestern coast of Florida. These findings could better inform the management of the Gulf of Mexico blacktip shark stock.

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