A Rare Find

I’m gazing over the edge of the Undersea Explorer into a mesmerizing azure-colored ocean. We got hit by a rain shower last night along with some raging gusts, and this morning the winds have picked up again. To my eyes, it’s a gorgeous day out here in the Coral Sea. It’s around 80 degrees both in and out of the water. But mildly choppy seas combined with the strong underwater currents mean both poor shark wrangling and filming conditions.

We’ve been here just over 18 hours and weather has prevented the crew from doing much. We aborted a night dive, and weren’t able to go catch whitetip reef sharks to either implant new tracking devices or retrieve ones already in place. But all’s well, because we still have a week ahead of us, and they’re using the downtime to film “topside” shots of the crew doing various things, such as lead scientist for the Nature Conservancy and Expedition Shark presenter M.A. Sanjayan in a kiddie pool on the top deck. Funny as it seems, it will be used to hold the sharks they catch underwater before they wrestle them down to the duckboard — a metal platform off the back of the boat. I won’t go into the jokes the crew told about other uses for the kiddie, but suffice it to say that it involved Cat and I, and we’re on board with a crew of 16 men.

The Undersea Explorer — the boat we’re on and on which Richard Fitzpatrick and crew have conducted their research from for the past 12 years — is owned by a company of the same name. John “JR” Rumney started the innovative business model 14 years ago, partnering scientific research on sharks and other marine creatures with tourism. JR is a “salty dog” who has spent a lot of time at sea, and a lot of time diving with marine organisms. The business model allows snorkelers and Scuba divers a chance to swim with the magnificent creatures, and provides funding to learn about and, ultimately, conserve the reef. “It basically creates a self-funded scientific research program,” explains JR, who has since started Eye to Eye Marine Expeditions, applying the same concept with minke whales. He’s a fantastic photographer, and joins us on our expedition this week.

We’ve moved the boat from Admiralty Anchor, a safe harbor where we dock every night, to North Horn — Shark Central, “a very sharky spot,” according to dive instructor Chris Witty. During the downtime Cat and I decide to go for a dive to shoot photos of whitetip reef sharks.

Divers typically descend to the deepest part of the dive first, and then come back up gradually, so Cat and I drop straight down along with Undersea Explorer crew member Brendon Robinson. Several whitetips rest right underneath our vessel on the ocean bottom. As Cat shoots the sharks, Brendon points out two foot-long lionfish resting under a precipice, which have long ribbon-like filaments extending over their maroon and white bodies. We glide over and through the reef system, looking at brilliant fish in various color combinations – purple, blue, yellow, black, white and green. A purplish octopus, smaller than a basketball, grabs Brendon’s hand as he tries to lure it out from its coral crevice. I let its suckers pull on my hand, and for a second I think I may not get my finger back! It’s surprisingly strong for a relatively little guy.

I notice the reef seems more colorful and with far larger variety of fish species present than in the two other spots I’ve dove and snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef. Yet Osprey Reef does not lie within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and the lack of formal protection is one reason why Richard and his colleagues are studying the sharks here.

We swim out into an open channel where tiny bits of sediment whip past, revealing the current speed. All of a sudden, Brendon nearly jumps out of his wetsuit in excitement as he waves us closer and points. I don’t know, but I have a good idea it’s a shark. Probably a big shark, and I have to admit I got a wee bit nervous, but that didn’t stop me from swimming right out towards where Brendon led. I don’t see it at first but I keep looking, and there in the murky sea appears a 10-foot long shark, with a tail just half long as its body, trailing like a ribbon off its backside. I ask Brendon in my best sign language ‘what is it?’ He writes in an underwater notebook “Thresher shark” and makes a “Hang ten” sign which in Australian-underwater-Scuba-sign language, I’m told, means “shocker,” Australian for surprising and totally amazingly cool.

Only when I’m back on board do I realize we witnessed an extremely rare sight. “You saw a thresher? No way!” Mike deGruy says when we get back. “Don’t put that in the blog. No one will believe you!” he jokes. Mike has done a gazillion dives all over the world and has only ever seen one thresher. Brendon has seen only two before and he has logged something like 5,000 dives, and been coming here for the past 3 years, almost every week out of the year. And the crew hasn’t filmed any threshers. “You had a very rare sighting,” says JR.

Brendon tells us that we saw a big-eye thresher. Its big eye helps it gather light from its very deep sea environment where it normally is found. Expedition Shark Producer Mark Ferns explains that because Osprey is a seamount, the ocean drops way off to 1,500 meters just beyond it, so there are not only reef sharks but also deep water dwellers — such as the thresher shark — that pass through. Just one more reason why protecting this incredibly diverse reef will help protect sharks of many different species; not to mention the many thousands of other marine species that call this reef home.

The guys say divers with the Undersea Explorer have seen more threshers than usual this year, but no one knows if they’re rare or just rarely seen. Despite all of our fascination with sharks — sometimes fear-driven gruesome fascination and sometimes merely awe — scientists still know very little about the majority of the world’s shark species, especially in their marine ecosystem habitat. Unfortunately what little information we have about many species comes from shark attacks, which hardly reveals the wide spectrum of their natural history.

“It’s 20 minutes until they’re going to go catch sharks,” Cat says as she comes into our room, where I’m writing. The plan of the moment — we’ll stay topside and record the action when they bring them back on the boat and help with surgically inserting radio tracking devices into their bodies. Up close and personal with live sharks on the boat. Shocker!

Images: Choppy Coral Sea; John "JR" Rumney (left) with crew; whitetip reef shark; thresher shark.

Photos: Cat Gennaro/DCL | Doug Perrin/Seapics.com

Comments

[J. Eggers]

Congrats on the Thresher --- I've never heard of them!!!
Sounds like you're having an amazingly awesome time!!!! I'm thrilled for you!!!!!!
Lots of love from Texas!!!
J.

[J. Eggers]

Congrats on the Thresher --- I've never heard of them!!!
Sounds like you're having an amazingly awesome time!!!! I'm thrilled for you!!!!!!
Lots of love from Texas!!!
J.

[Susan See]

16 men?? And just you and Cat?? Dang girl, how come you get all the luck!! *lol*

Truly fascinating stuff you're writing about and hope the weather starts to calm down for you all.

[6th grade classroom HTES]

Wow this is so cool!!! Did you ever feel some fear when you saw the Thresher or did the awe take over? Do you need any students to go on your next trip for a different perspective? Students that are 12 or 13 and go to Holy
Trinity? Have the waves been bigger than 6 feet with the extra winds? Do you eat any fish that you might catch? What part of the shark's body do you insert the transmitter? How long does the transmitter last? How large is the boat and how many people does it hold? How deep is the kiddy pool for the sharks? We love the shark pic you sent with the diver behind it....we are jealous and look forward to your next blog!!!!!
Sam's Class
P.S. Sam has been to the principal's office every day since you left...we need to conference....tee hee just kidding. This blog is such a treat!!!!

[6th grade classroom HTES]

Wow this is so cool!!! Did you ever feel some fear when you saw the Thresher or did the awe take over? Do you need any students to go on your next trip for a different perspective? Students that are 12 or 13 and go to Holy
Trinity? Have the waves been bigger than 6 feet with the extra winds? Do you eat any fish that you might catch? What part of the shark's body do you insert the transmitter? How long does the transmitter last? How large is the boat and how many people does it hold? How deep is the kiddy pool for the sharks? We love the shark pic you sent with the diver behind it....we are jealous and look forward to your next blog!!!!!
Sam's Class
P.S. Sam has been to the principal's office every day since you left...we need to conference....tee hee just kidding. This blog is such a treat!!!!

[Melody Smith]

Wow! That's so cool. Are the sharks given anesthesia, or is their skin so tough they don't feel the procedure?
I can't wait until your next post. This is fascinating stuff. I've never heard of a thresher shark. I'll bet your kids love tracking you on your blog!

[Chrstine Heinrichs]

A blessing from the Shark God on your project! Certainly a good omen.