Raine Island Update - Zoe, new shark 'Jess' and an injury for good measure.

Bruised kidneys, new tagged shark and a visit from an old friend. Yes! I've returned from a Raine Island research trip and now have a small window of opportunity to sort out footage and data before we head back again in January 2014. 

This is my 15th year of visiting Raine Island over countless trips. It never really gets old. I think the sharks may even be considering me a local.


My visits to Raine Island in 2013 were conducted with Dr Andy Dunstan of Queensland Environment and Heritage Department who managed the research and monitoring of the island. During these trips we've filmed and tagged a number of tiger sharks (amongst other things - HINT: stay tuned!).

Our latest research trip in December was conducted with NHK television, for whom I am currently making the first 4K documentary on the reef. Also helping out was Ross Miller from Aroona Charters and John Rumney from Eye to Eye Marine Encounters.

Zoe, we meet again..

In an earlier post I wrote about the chance underwater encounter I had with Zoe, a young female tiger shark who we have been watching for a few years. This trip was no different. We have seen this young girl on each of the past 3 trips to Raine Island this summer. 

'Zoe' the tiger shark has centred herself around the turtle
action at Raine Island for the past two months

As you can see from the tracking data for the past two months, it looks as though Zoe (the shark) is in for the summer turtle nesting season (aka feast).

New shark tagged

As well as bumping into Zoe again, we were able to increase our tiger shark tracking sample size by one. Andy and I caught and tagged a 3.08m female called ‘Jess’, named after marine biologist Jess Leech who was assisting on the expedition. Jess was caught using our ‘shark claw’ so no hooks are needed. However, after being caught, instead of swimming off like most sharks she just circled the boat until we pulled her in. Once we had attached her tag to her dorsal fin, Jess was also very relaxed upon release, where she slowly circled the underwater team a few times before swimming off.

Attaching the satellite tag to 'Jess', the 3.08m
 female tiger shark in December 2013

Swimming 'Jess' after her minor surgery

A very relaxed shark meanders into the blue as we wave goodbye and
wait for her return to the surface for her first data point.

Shark injury! (It's not what you think)

On the last day of the expedition I had hoped to tag another shark but this was cut short when I was playing a shark in close to the boat and it bit through the rope holding the bait. I fell backwards heavily and broke a rib and heavily bruised my kidney - a very unusual shark injury.

Raine Island Project 2014

To stay up to date with what we are up to on Raine, or to follow Jess and Zoe, or to see what damage I can do to myself next, stay in touch with us via our Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus pages, as well as this blog. If we get the chance, we'll also try to post some updates on our YouTube page. You'll find more information on our Raine Island Tiger shark tagging project in the research section of our webpage.