![]() We swam slightly farther from the reef (as we normally do at the end of a dive to allow us to be picked up in deeper water) and after several minutes we saw them. ![]() After several minutes, three hammerheads cruised by, checking us out. We were excited to see it, but were still waiting expectantly for the large school we had heard about. "As we stared into the blue, a single hammerhead swam towards us, and then leisurely circled us before swimming off." This shark was photographed by a NOAA Diver near Jarvis Island in the South Pacific Ocean.Īs we stared into the blue, a single hammerhead swam towards us, and then leisurely circled us before swimming off. Several divers had mentioned seeing a large school of hammerhead sharks in the area, so after completing our surveys in that area we kept on the lookout in hopes of finding the school. On the west side of Jarvis just off the reef, multiple teams had done dives deploying and retrieving water collection and temperature/salinity measuring instruments as well as surveying corals and fish. This was the first time in the 10 years I’ve been doing fish surveys that I’ve ever had a hammerhead come into my survey transect to be counted. ![]() As I frantically pushed the ON button on my camera, it saw that I was looking at it and it slowly turned away as I took a picture. In this article written especially for Shark Week, she gives us a personal account of an exhilarating dive near Jarvis Island during the recent reef fish surveys she and her CREP team conducted on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette in May 2016.Īs I was beginning my fish counts from the center of my 15m-diameter survey area on the northeast corner of Jarvis, I turned and saw a 7.25’ scalloped hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna lewini) swimming towards me. Meet NOAA Diver Paula Ayotte, a veteran fish and benthic survey diver, from the Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center – Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) located in Honolulu, Hawaii. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |