Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program:
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Monitoring data necessary to identify critical habitats and assess the exploitation patterns
of early life history stages in sharks are often insufficient, preventing resource managers from
eliminating the possibility that alteration of nursery habitats and/or fishing pressure during early life history stages are potential drivers of population decline. Nursery habitat requirements for most shark species are unknown, but even when identified, long term monitoring programs focused on juvenile sharks and their nursery habitats remain rare. Incorporating the use of local ecological knowledge can potentially fill gaps in monitoring data allowing for a better understanding of the habitat requirements and use patterns of juvenile sharks. This work was undertaken in collaboration with the fishing community in Hilo, ​Hawaii, as well as the ​Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources and the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center. In addition to demonstrating historical and current patterns of abundance of juvenile sharks in Hilo Bay, this work will also generate a framework for integrating local ecological knowledge into monitoring programs employing more commonly used approaches such as hook and line and eDNA surveys.