with a US$10,000 grant from US-based non-profit group Conservation Nation. Jess explains that photos are important to ensure individuals are not counted more than once. “If you think of humans, our thumbprint is what we say identifies us as individuals, although obviously facial ID is pretty good now too. But with these animals, their patterning is quite distinct so we’re taking photos of every individual that we sample and we’re going to be putting that through AI to
pull out individuals,” Jess said. Adding to the survey work around the 21 islands of the Conflicts Group has been a series of exploratory survey trips to other island groups in Milne Bay and Oro funded by another group, the Asia-Pacific branch of Conservation International. These have included a 16- day trip in November 2023 on the Conflicts resort boat MV Undersea Explorer from Alotau out to Rossel Island. Another 10-day survey on the chartered liveaboard dive boat MV Chertan in September last year took in the East Cape area of Alotau, while the third and most recent survey trip in March this year included 12 days in the Tufi area, then a further 10 days aboard Undersea Explorer again to the D’Entrecasteaux Islands. Jess followed this trip up with four days of surveys around the Port Moresby area, basing herself at Loloata Island Resort, where many eco-projects are under way to restore marine life in the Bootless Bay area and where staff will continue to survey the walking sharks. Although there had been flooding rain which affected visibility on the POM dives, she did get to spot eight walking sharks in the bay, as well as six sharks at one site on a dive with local dive group POMSAC. “We’re training up the local guys in how to catch the sharks, and they are gaining confidence, but some get away, they can be very fast, and if they get into areas where there’s dense seagrass are easy to lose. I’d say they’re sneaky if they want to be!” Further funding of A$45,000 has been made available over three years from the Australian- Pacific Science Foundation to progress Jess’ research by helping with the processing of samples and genetic analysis. While the surveys are helping Jess and her team pinpoint
“When the sharks are little (the reproductive organs) look like little Tic Tacs but when they’re mature they look like, I don’t know, appendages, or fingers – and we measure those as part of our work”
Female Females have no external reproductive organs. HOW TO TELL: MALE VERSUS FEMALE MALE VS FEMALE
Male Males have 2 external reproductive organs called claspers. They are used during mating. Mature adults have hard (calcified) claspers. Immature males have softer (un-calcified) claspers. Young males have very small claspers normally less than 2cm.
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