Kim Holland – Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii
Brad Wetherbee – Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island
Chris Lowe – California State University at Long Beach
Carl Meyer – Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii

Externally and internally implanted sonic transmitters were used to track the movements of eight tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) ranging between 200 and 417 cm total length (TL), captured by hook-and-line on the south coast of Oahu, Hawaii, between 1993 and 1997. Attachment of the transmitters was facilitated by the fact that captured sharks exhibited tonic immobility when restrained and inverted at the side of the tagging vessel. Three common themes emerged from the horizontal movements of the tracked sharks: (1) offshore movements away from the island, (2) extended periods of directed, “straight-line” swimming, (3) orientation to the Penguin Banks – a shallow bank located 35 km from the release point. In shallow water (<300 m) the sharks swam predominantly close to the bottom, in open water (>300 m) they swam within the mixed layer at depths of 80 m. One shark dove briefly to 335 m. The average estimated swimming speed of sharks traversing open water was 0.29 body length (BL) s^–1. Two sharks were recaptured after termination of the tracks; one of these sharks was recaptured twice, with a total time at liberty of 377 d. These data suggest that tiger sharks in Hawaiian waters move within large home ranges and that they can efficiently navigate between distant parts of their range, even when this requires crossing open ocean waters.

For pdf versions of publications resulting from this study click on the manuscript below.

Holland, K.N., B.M. Wetherbee, C.G. Lowe and C. Meyer. 1999. Movements of tiger sharks along shorelines of Oahu , Hawaii . Mar. Biol. 134:665-673.

Holland, K.N., A. Bush, S.M. Kajiura, C.G. Meyer, B.M. Wetherbee and C.G. Lowe. 2001. Five tags applied to a single species in a single location: The tiger shark experience.  p. 230-245 In: Reviews: Methods and Technologies in Fish Biology and Fisheries. Vol. 1. J. Sibert and J. Nielson, eds., Kluwer Academic Press,Dordrecht , the Netherlands .