MARIGOT: Following the fatal attack of a tiger shark on a swimmer in December 2020 in Orient Bay and the bite of another woman in St. Kitts thirty days later, a team of scientists had conducted investigations to understand the causes of the attack.
The hypothesis was that the animal responsible for the accident had adopted a deviant behavior, and could bite humans without reason.
Dr. Eric Clua, a veterinarian by training and director of studies, convinced his colleagues to collect shark DNA from the bodies of the swimmers. A totally innovative initiative that aims to be able to identify the animal.
After several months of analysis, the results matched. “The probability rate that the shark that bit at Orient Bay is the one that bit at Nevis is 95%”, says Eric Clua.
Now the latter is starting a new phase of work, that of locating the said shark in order to capture it. “We know that the tiger shark always comes back where it was. We are therefore going to organize non-lethal fishing in order to locate the animal that we know is potentially dangerous,” he explains.
The first series will start this month in St. Martin, others are also planned in St. Kitts and Nevis, whose authorities have just given their agreement to the director of studies.
The fishermen who will be allowed to participate will have to collect DNA from the animals and mark them on the dorsal side so that the animals can be identified more easily.
These actions are part of a much larger program of research and monitoring on sharks.
A public interest grouping was created and is located in the prefecture. 480,000 euros have been made available to finance this work, which should also allow a census of the shark population in the Antilles and improve knowledge of this animal species.
The prefect would like St. Martin to become a center of excellence on sharks in the Caribbean.
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Source: Faxinfo https://www.faxinfo.sx/2022/02/02/evening-weather-forecast-for-feb-2-2022/
