Studies off 2 islands will test local belief in shark ‘patrols’

An independent researcher who has worked with the National Geographic Channel tracking great white sharks has begun a study on the movement of tiger sharks around Hawaii island.

Michael Domeier, director of the nonprofit Marine Conservation Institute, said the study will be looking at local islanders’ belief that there are resident sharks that patrol specific areas.

"I suspect we will show this is not the case," said Domeier, author of the book "Global Perspectives on the Biology and Life History of the White Shark."

At the same time, said Domeier, he knows tiger sharks are being attracted by fish being cleaned near Honokohau Harbor, so the study might show some remaining in that area.

Meanwhile Sunday, lifeguards closed a south Maui beach for a couple of hours after a shark was sighted within 10 feet of shore. County water safety official Archie Kalepa said the shark was 12 to 14 feet long and that water safety officials closed Big Beach at Makena State Park from 2 to 4 p.m.

Kalepa said the beach was reopened after water and coastal patrols spotted nothing.

Domeier, who has a doctorate in marine biology from the University of Miami, took a boat out Sunday from Kona but found no sharks. He said he expects the work will take several day trips.

The shark study is one of two research projects tracking tiger sharks and their migration around Hawaii.

The other, a two-year $186,000 study on the movement of tiger sharks in Valley Isle waters, will get underway in September. The study will look at whether sharks have favorite spots around Maui, where an attack this month killed a 20-year-old woman from Germany.

The state-funded study conducted by Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology researcher Carl Meyer will be using satellite tracking as well as underwater acoustic devices.

Domeier said he planned on conducting the study months ago before the current spate of attacks. Eight people have been bitten so far this year, four in the past three weeks.

He said he’ll be using a satellite tracking device he developed that, once attached to a dorsal fin, could last for two years or more.

He said most satellite tracking devices are good for only about five months.

Domeier said his device was developed while tracking the migratory patterns of great white sharks for two years between California and the ocean south of Hawaii.

He said he will not use acoustic tracking devices because sonar has a limited range. The study will be funded by donations, he said.

Domeier and Meyer said they’ve spoken with each other and hope information from their studies will advance the understanding of tiger sharks’ behavior.

"The more data collected, the better we will understand tiger shark ecology in Hawaiian waters," Meyer said.

Domeier said Meyer has done a good job of showing how far-ranging tiger sharks are in their movement, but scientists have not tracked tiger sharks in Hawaii long enough to spot trends.

"I think they have predictable migratory patterns," Domeier said.

Domeier, whose nonprofit Marine Conservation Institute is based in Fallbrook, Calif., said nothing made sense about the migrations of great white sharks in Southern California until they were tracked for a couple of years to find their feeding and reproductive patterns.

The tracking, in conjunction with more than 14 years of observation and photo-identification monitoring, helped Domeier and his colleagues establish the location of white shark mating and pupping sites.

He and scientist Oscar Sosa-Nishizaki of Mexico established a method for determining whether the population of white sharks was increasing, decreasing or remaining the same.

Domeier’s work tracking great white sharks off California has been featured during two seasons by the National Geographic Channel’s "Expedition Great White" and "Shark Men," appearing in 18 episodes.

Great whites are rare in Hawaiian waters, where tiger sharks are confirmed or suspected in nearly all attacks.

Meyer said information remains scant about tiger sharks in Hawaii, including their population.

"It is not possible to accurately estimate tiger shark population sizes because of their mobility," Meyer said. "The number of tiger sharks in any given area is constantly changing. These animals roam up and down the entire Hawaiian chain and far out into open ocean."

Meyer said understanding the movement patterns of tiger sharks responsible for attacks is important in selecting effective strategies to reduce those attacks.

He said his study seeks to provide answers about whether there are sharks that reside around Maui and if there are "hot spots" where the probability of encounters with them are higher.

Meyer said that based on historical information, there’s no evidence that shark hunts effectively reduce shark attacks.

He said that between June 1967 and May 1968, 33 tiger sharks were killed in the vicinity of Barbers Point alone.

"Yet someone was still bitten at that location in November ’69," Meyer said.