We have utilised a variety of state of the art telemetry ranging from acoustic to satellite, in order to understand Bull Shark behavior and ecology. Acoustically tagged sharks are detected by ‘listening stations’ (acoustic receivers) deployed on Shark Reef and neighbouring reefs. The creation of such a receiver array provides presence-absence data of individual sharks, which together with other visual census data, allow inferences to be drawn about site occupancy and small-scale movement patterns
It is a well known fact that Bull Sharks use shallow coastal regions and rivers as parturition sites and nursery grounds where their pups are protected from both larger predators and food competitors. In recent years bull sharks displaying obvious signs of pregnancy have been tagged with acoustic tags and receivers were deployed at the entrances of Viti Levu’s main rivers: the Rewa, Navua, Sigatoka and Ba.
Young Bull Sharks occupying these rivers have been equipped with acoustic tags. Neonate, young-of-the-year (YOY) and juvenile Bull Sharks occupy environmentally heterogeneous habitats. For example, YOY Bull Sharks occupy lower saline habitats than juveniles, while sub-adults and adults are more abundant in nearshore marine areas. In Fiji, juvenile Bull Sharks have been documented in the Ba, Sigatoka, Rewa, Dreketi and Navua Rivers, the latter being close to the Shark Reef Marine Reserve.