A rare sighting of a hammerhead shark has been made at the Nassau Grouper Spawning Aggregation Site (SPAG) by Department of Environment scientists and volunteers as they observed the annual Grouper Moon in Little Cayman waters.
DoE volunteer Amanda Brown, who has been documenting the grouper spawning through a blog, shared the video of the sighting by the team last week.
“This is the first documented sighting of a hammerhead at the SPAG in the 20 years that the Grouper Moon Project Team has been researching the site,” she wrote, following the sighting on 19 Jan.
She said, through the blog, that on the afternoon and evening dives each day, the Grouper Moon team has been treated to several Caribbean reef shark sightings in addition to the hammerhead when they swam through the Nassau grouper aggregation site.
This, she said, “was an exciting way to watch the food web in action with the incredible apex predators amongst the groupers”.
Brown added that on 20 Jan. while walking down the dock to the boat, the team saw four blacktip sharks, two lemon sharks, and a juvenile Caribbean reef shark swimming around the dock as a divemaster was cleaning lionfish.
In the Cayman Islands, Brown said, long-term surveying is underway of shark populations to monitor numbers.
“Education about the critical role that sharks play in maintaining a healthy marine environment and the need for a healthy respect for sharks is key in changing public perception to a positive attitude,” she wrote.
Additionally, with the help of acoustic tags, baited remote underwater video (BRUV) surveys, diving surveys and satellite tags, she said the DoE, together with Marine Conservation International, supported by the Cayman Islands Brewery’s White Tip Shark Conservation Fund, have been studying, monitoring and working to protect local shark populations in the Cayman Islands since 2009.
“All sharks are protected species in the Cayman Islands. Their population is fragile and small, making their protection and research key elements for conservation,” she added.
Grouper Moon live
The Grouper Moon usually attracts international researchers and volunteers from the Reef Environment Education Foundation who come together for the annual spawning display which has been a mainstay since 2002.
“Each year, during the winter full moons, Nassau Grouper travel from one end of an island to the other to ‘group’ together and spawn. This incredible phenomenon is called ‘Grouper Moon’ and has been studied in Cayman for over 30 years,” the DoE posted on its official Facebook page ahead of the annual spawning.
The spectacular January display is livestreamed to local classrooms with commentary from the DoE and Reef Environmental Education Foundation team members.
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