september 17, 2021
Sharks are snowbirds too! Seasonal migration of blacktip sharks in southeast Florida
Dr. Stephen Kajiura
Professor, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract
Blacktip sharks aggregate by the thousands in nearshore waters of southeast Florida every winter. For over a decade we have employed aerial surveys with airplanes and drones, acoustic and satellite telemetry, underwater video monitoring, and animal-borne data loggers to examine the distribution and movements of sharks as they overwinter along our coast and migrate up the eastern seaboard. We have found that these sharks have shifted their distribution to higher latitudes in response to warming oceans. In the future, southeast Florida might actually be deprived of these seasonally important predators, which could have cascading effects through multiple trophic levels.
Biosketch
Dr. Stephen Kajiura is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University. He received his PhD in Zoology from the University of Hawaii, a MS in Marine Biology from the Florida Institute of Technology, and a BSc (Hons) in Marine Biology from the University of Guelph (Canada). Dr. Kajiura has conducted research for various agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the National Marine Fisheries Service. He has published over 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has presented numerous talks at scientific conferences. He has supervised over a dozen graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, and has served on numerous thesis committees for students from around the world. Dr. Kajiura maintains a strong public outreach service, primarily through television documentary appearances, and has served as an elected member of the American Elasmobranch Society Board of Directors. He has over 25 years of experience studying the biology of sharks and rays.