Like a scene from the movie Jaws, Dylan, Lorraine, and the JASON crew took a swim in the shark infested waters of Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) in the Bahamian Islands. Alongside these brave souls stood a CEI graduate student, Ian, who is currently conducting research testing the stress levels associated with capture of juvenile lemon sharks. Field work often presents circumstances outside of our control such as weather, tide, and animal behavior. The dedicated researchers of CEI face these obstacles with perseverance.
Our first expedition of the day consisted of arming ourselves with snorkels and a tennis-court-like seine net to capture the specimens. Upon arriving at our search site we spotted a nurse shark. Our spirits skyrocketed as we saw the graceful beast swim throughout its natural habitat. With expectations high as a palm tree, we jumped into the water with utmost excitement, rolled out the nets, set people on watch, and suspended chum in the water with our baited crate, fishing pole, nets and bait. After learning about Ian’s research objectives, we created what we thought was a fool-proof trap for sharks. As we scanned the shallow water, our hopes for capturing a shark dwindled slowly until it faded. Three hours later the disappointment was apparent on our faces with every step we took back to the boat.
Luckily, we were given a second chance. Scurrying to the boat after lunch, we set out to try catching these elusive creatures one final time. Our captain, Stan-the-Man, Ian and Georgie took us back to Rock Sound to give us what we thirsted for: a lemon shark. With renewed strength and hope, we struggled navigating our boat through the flats chasing shark after shark only to come up empty-handed.
With little warning lemon sharks came out to play. JASON Argonauts were shark wrangling left and right and brought in a mighty catch of four juvenile lemon sharks. Students assisted Ian and Georgie with retrieving necessary items such as fishing poles, bait, and nets to capture the sharks. The radios abuzz with the news of our success had all of us giddy with excitement. Ian considered this a successful outing adding to the sample specimens needed to conduct his research experiments.
Ian wants to understand the stress levels and energy expenditure of lemon sharks caught as bycatch due to commercial fishing. He is looking at how this affects these sharks in their natural habitat. Ian will use sealed chambers to regulate oxygen levels and rate of exercise to measure their respiratory output. These are only the beginning steps for his research, creating a baseline against which to compare the bycatch specimens.
As JASON Argonauts participating in a field experiment, we were amazed and awed by the lemon sharks’ explosive power. The precautions taken by the researchers to handle these creatures is necessary for their safety of the well-being of the sharks. These creatures and our research of lemon sharks will provide significant insight regarding the effects of humans on our marine ecosystem. CEI certainly knows how to involve students in all levels of research. CEI along with the JASON project take STEM learning to a new level.