MSF report for 2021 has landed and in spite of Covid, we were able to gather data that could be used for fisheries and coastal management.

During our Shark Research in 2021 we collected data on juvenile sharks in selected habitats.

The sites were marine lakes, mangrove channels, shores, lagoon sites, and outer reefs. Our main data collection was by BRUVs (bated underwater remote underwater video) by installing GoPros at the sharks’ habitats and leaving the device for an hour. The data gave information on the sharks sizes, and other juvenile reef fish that use the same site as a protected habitat. We also used snorkeling and diving for in-water data collection and used a drone for aerial data collection.

We visited 17 sites in Koror State and 3 in Peleliu State.

At some of these sites we were able to observe black-tip sharks as small as est. 10 inches in size at other sides grey reef mid-size juvenile sharks accompanied by adults of 100+ in number.

We are confident to have established a good site selection to study numbers and behavior of juvenile sharks and reef fish for the next 3 years to being able to get a statistically significant set of data.

We are very pleased to seeing a healthy population of sharks in Palau’s waters, indicating a healthy marine eco-system.

We would like to thank MJA Wildlife Fund and two anonymous sponsors, who have significantly contributed to the success of our study.