The excitement and anticipation of waiting for the Nungwi shark photos to see if there were great white sharks in Zanzibar ended in slight disappointment. The shark data sheets labelled white sharks turned out to be silky sharks, whilst those labelled tiger sharks were actually shortfin mako sharks. How a shortfin mako could be mistaken for a tiger shark, I haven’t got a clue! Of the 68 sharks caught in Nungwi from September to December 2012 there were: 27 shortfin makos, 14 smooth hammerheads, 8 scalloped hammerheads, 3 great hammerheads, 6 silky sharks, 3 pelagic threshers, 2 bigeye threshers, 1 white-tailed dogfish, 1 bignose shark, 1 bigeye sixgill shark, 1 blacktip shark and 1 actual tiger shark. Even though there were no white sharks and not as many tigers found as I had hoped for, the fact that shortfin mako and hammerhead sharks were present in large numbers mean that I can focus on these species groups for my dissertation.

Mako shark

Hammerhead shark

Meanwhile the system of informing myself and the research of any sharks caught here in Kizimkazi-Dimbani fish market was not working as well as I had hoped. However after discussion with Mr Pandu there was an immediate improvement. The morning after our discussion I was informed of a large catch of 11 sharks, doubling my shark total in Dimbani in one morning! The sharks were all identified as white-tailed dogfish.

Now that we have the communication sorted, I am waiting eagerly for the month of March, when shark catches are reported to be quite high in the area and catches of 11 sharks every morning may become a regular occurrence! Large numbers of sharks are obviously welcome for the study but also a concern regarding the status of the species caught. We hope that the studies now conducted will provide data for an initial shark assessment and also indicate where more research may be needed.

Tutaonana badye (see you later),

William Jolly

Newcastle University

Shark project, Zanzibar