HRI's Endowed Associate Research Professor
Dr. Greg Stunz and his team are embarking on a project
that will examine essential shark habitat in the Gulf of Mexico.
The project will focus on the Texas Gulf Coast with emphasis on
Padre Island National Seashore (PINS).
The project's researchers will be charting demographics, feeding habitats, and nurseries
for the shark fishery. Stunz will be principal
investigator for the project with US Geological Survey (USGS) Mark Wildhaber as co-principal investigator.
The planning phase of the project is underway and data
collection will start this spring. Researchers will take creel
surveys (interviewing fishers about their catch and taking data
on the fish), analyze sharks' stomach content, and use mathematical modeling to
assess the level of
recreational fishing in Gulf waters.
The shallow waters of
the Gulf of Mexico support a diverse and abundant shark
assemblage. However, several shark species are declining in US
waters. Stunz hopes to discover the reasons why through the data
he and his team are collecting.
"This project is important because the presence of sharks greatly influences the entire marine
ecosystem. Yet, we have little information on the
distribution and species composition of sharks," Stunz said.
Students involved in the project include HRI PhD student John
Froeschke who will be the project's student leader. The project
will be a major component of his dissertation research. HRI
lab intern Miranda Lopez will work on this project as part of the
Building Undergraduate Opportunities in Environmental Biology (BUENO)
internship program at TAMUCC.
HRI Research Specialist
Megan Reese will
help with data collection for the project.
To collect data, researchers will be catching sharks by
fishing from boats and from shore. They will also rely on angler
contributions and creel surveys.
Data from this study will be passed on to governmental
officials to help determine appropriate fishery
management policies necessary to manage the shark
resource in the gulf.
The data will be published in scientific literature and
distributed to managing agencies such as the Texas Parks and
Wildlife, Department of Interior (PINS) and NOAA. "We will also
make information available to the general public through the HRI website," Stunz said.
This will be a major project for the HRI's
Oceans and Human
Health program headed by Stunz. The program's other
ongoing projects include: "The Role of Oyster Reef as Essential
Fish Habitat" and "Effects of Tidal Inlets on Recruitment
Dynamics of Marine Nekton."
DR GREG STUNZ
FISHERIES ECOLOGY LAB
