| This story has been corrected. Please see below. |
Scientists are posting on the Internet the movements of several tiger sharks that have been tagged with satellite and acoustical tracking devices in the ocean near Maui.
The tagging is part of a two-year project to study the movement of the sharks and their behavior, including an attempt to determine their mating and pupping areas.
University of Hawaii scientist Carl Meyer said that since the work began in October, six sharks have been tagged with acoustical devices.
Acoustical and satellite tracking devices have been attached to eight larger sharks, he said. He hopes to tag at least 20 with acoustical and satellite tracking devices for the study.
Meyer, a Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology researcher, said the tagging is taking place during the peak pupping season in October and November, and 13 out of 14 tiger sharks tagged are females.
He said scientists plan to tag more tiger sharks in January and February, their mating season, and hope to add more males to have information about both sexes.
The study, announced in August, followed a spike in shark attacks off Maui, including a fatal injury to 20-year-old visitor Jana Lutteropp off White Rock in South Maui.
Lutteropp was the eighth shark attack victim in Hawaii since January. Four of the attacks occurred near Maui.
State officials say the prevailing theory explaining the increase is that there are more people in the ocean and 40 to 50 years has passed since the last shark-culling.
Between 1959 and 1976 more than 4,660 sharks were killed in six shark control programs in Hawaii, according to a 1994 report in the journal Pacific Science.
Meyer said in the culling programs, most of those killed weren’t tiger sharks, although tiger sharks are known to attack human beings.
He said the evidence showed the shark-culling did not make the people safer.
There was a shark attack three months before a 1967-69 program and another attack five months after the program, the journal said.
Scientists point out the difficulty in searching for and killing the shark responsible for an attack, in light of their movements across long distances.
In the tracking information, one tiger shark has traveled to several islands, including Maui, Molokai, Kahoolawe and Hawaii. Movements of tiger sharks can be observed at oos.soest.hawaii.edu/pacioos/projects/sharks.
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Correction: Jana Lutteropp, a 20-year-old visitor from Germany, died of injuries from a shark attack off South Maui in August. An earlier version of this story said she was 16 and suffered a serious injury.
