MATOS - Mid-Atlantic Acoustic Telemetry Observation System

Project Title: Movement, migration, habitat use, diet, health and stress physiology of North Atlantic elasmobranchs: Enhancing local conservation and management with field research.

MATOS Project Code: WCSSHARKST

Data Type: Data

Project Duration: June 2012 - on-going

Project Description: The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is studying the movements, habitat use, migration patterns, and health of sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus) on the south shore of Long Island, New York. Sand tiger shark populations were depleted through overfishing in the late 20th Century and it is prohibited to take or target sand tigers in any commercial or recreational fishery. WCS aims to determine the importance of New York waters for this species and improve conservation outcomes. Great South Bay has been identified as a summer nursery ground for juvenile sand tigers, with individuals displaying strong site fidelity multiple years after tagging. As they age, subadult and adult sand tigers use the ocean waters south of Long Island. WCS maintains an acoustic receiver array inside Great South Bay to track juvenile sand tigers and another array in near-shore waters south of Long Island covering about 13 miles of coastline to track subadult and adult sand tigers.

Principal Investigator:	Merry Camhi (Wildlife Conservation Society)
Email:	mcamhi@wcs.org

Point of Contact:	Jake LaBelle
Email:	jlabelle@wcs.org

Collaborators:

Stony Brook University

WCS New York Sand Tiger Shark Study