Migration Patterns of Whale Sharks 2005 -2008

Migration Patterns of Whale Sharks; A summary of 15 satellite tag tracks from 2005 to 2008. Each year from March to May, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), aggregate on the continental shelf of the central Western Australian coast. At Ningaloo Reef, whale sharks are often found swimming close to the reef front, within a few kilometres of the shore and in water of less than 50 m deep. A tourist industry based on snorkelling with the sharks in this area has developed over the last 10 years and is now worth over $20 m annually to the local economy of the Ningaloo region. The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has a long-term research project that examines the ecology of whale sharks. A central aim of this project is to determine regional long-term movement patterns of whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef. This is achieved by tracking sharks with a variety of tags, principally Wildlife Computers SPLASH tags Benthos Point intercept data extraction from high resolution still images @ 10m spacing was entered into the AIMS TowedStills system prior to subsequent specialist statistical analyses.

鲸鲨洄游模式：2005至2008年15条卫星标记追踪结果综述。每年3月至5月，鲸鲨（Rhincodon typus）会聚集于澳大利亚中西部沿岸的大陆架海域。在宁格鲁礁（Ningaloo Reef）区域，鲸鲨常活动于礁缘附近、离岸数公里以内且水深不足50米的水域。过去十年来，依托该区域开展的鲸鲨浮潜旅游产业已逐步成型，目前每年可为宁格鲁地区的地方经济带来超2000万澳元的产值。澳大利亚海洋科学研究所（Australian Institute of Marine Science, AIMS）开展了一项旨在探究鲸鲨生态学特征的长期研究项目，其核心目标之一是明确宁格鲁礁区域内鲸鲨的区域性长期移动模式。该研究通过多种标记手段对鲸鲨进行追踪，主要采用Wildlife Computers品牌的SPLASH卫星标记。以10米为间隔从高分辨率静态图像中提取底栖点（Benthos Point）的拦截数据后，相关数据会被导入AIMS的TowedStills系统，随后开展后续的专业统计学分析。