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COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT HILO A juvenile blacktip shark is caught, tagged and released from Hilo Bay. Acoustic transmitter tags revealed that the sharks lived predominantly in Hilo Bay for the first few years of their lives.

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COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT HILO

A juvenile blacktip shark is caught, tagged and released from Hilo Bay. Acoustic transmitter tags revealed that the sharks lived predominantly in Hilo Bay for the first few years of their lives.

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT HILO Researchers from the University of Hawaii at Hilo measured a juvenile blacktip shark.

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COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT HILO

Researchers from the University of Hawaii at Hilo measured a juvenile blacktip shark.



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University of Hawaii at Hilo researchers say they have identified the first known blacktip shark nursery habitat in Hawaiian waters.

The researchers discovered juvenile blacktip sharks in Hilo Bay, where they live year-round, with the highest activity occurring from March through August, according to a study published last week.

UH-Hilo officials said in a news release that the researchers tagged the juvenile sharks with acoustic transmitters and monitored their movements throughout the bay from July 2022 to January 2024.

The study results suggest that this population of blacktip sharks reside predominantly within Hilo Bay for the first few years of their life, and highlights the effect that environmental changes can have on the species’ habitat availability and movement patterns.

“Nursery habitats provide food and shelter while these young sharks are growing,” said Jason Turner, an associate professor of marine science at UH-Hilo and co-author of the study, in the release. “When we think about humans impacting sharks we typically think about overfishing, by-catch or even taking sharks for their fins. What we often forget is that impacting their habitat can also be devastating whether that means increased development, maritime traffic, pollution, or the effects of climate change on an area like Hilo Bay.”

The study focused on oceanic blacktip sharks, one of two blacktip shark species found in Hawaii. The sharks are not considered aggressive toward humans and bites are uncommon, researchers said.

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UH-Hilo students received training in Native Hawaiian protocols before working with sharks in the field, according to the release.

The research started with a thesis by then-UH-Hilo graduate student Lauren Moe, who earned a master’s degree in tropical conservation biology and environmental science and is now a doctoral student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Moe co-authored the study with her thesis adviser, Turner; UH-Hilo professor Steve Colbert; and Jay Rooker and RJ David Wells at Texas A&M University in Galveston.