Just before the expected stormy weather on the weekend of 16-17.2.24, a team of researchers from the Maurice Kahn Marine Research Station from the Charni School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa identified and tagged two ospreys and their fins.
The identified sharks ► Watch
Dr. Aviad Sheinin, head of the super carnivores department at the Maurice Kahn Marine Research Station of the University of Haifa said:
As a tribute to Fernando Marman and Luis Herr's return from captivity this week, we decided to symbolically give the two sharks names that recall Fernando and Luis' names.
The shark tagging study
The shark tagging study is part of a long-term ecological study conducted for the ninth year on the super carnivore population in the Eastern Mediterranean where sharks are an important part of the fabric of life in the sea. During the winter, sharks congregate in the warm waters in the Hadera, Ashdod and Ashkelon areas, and so far most of the research has been carried out at the outlet of the warm water at the Orot Rabin power plant in Hadera, during which 109 sharks were tagged until yesterday.
This is the only long-term shark tagging study in the entire Mediterranean and is carried out under a permit from the Nature and Parks Authority. Most of the shark species in the Mediterranean Sea are in serious danger of extinction, and Israel is an oasis for them because they are protected there. So far, 71 sparrow sharks have been tagged, most of them females, and 38 fin sharks, most of them males.
Dr. Sheinin:
The arrival of Luisa the finner in our area is a relatively rare and very exciting event. The fin sharks are endangered in the Mediterranean Sea. Receiving the acoustic tag allows us to examine its movement along the coast of Israel and to understand more deeply what their 'motivation' is to reach the warm waters and to check whether it will return to this area in the coming years as well.
In the coming years, following the winning of National Geographic grants, the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station's shark research was expanded to Turkey, Italy, Albania while collaborating with local shark researchers. During the research, the researchers come to training in Israel in order to learn how to tag a shark correctly and safely.
Dr. Sheinin concluded:
"Having shark research in the shadow of the difficult war is a huge challenge for us, but we are determined to carry it out despite the difficulty in order to understand why the sharks come in the winter, where they swim in the summer, and how we can protect them better."
As a divorced man, I can testify from personal experience that there are many more than two leeks in the Haifa area, most of them carnivores of the ferocious white eel variety. . .
Very important article, Mia
Shabbat Shalom and blessed to you