Bat Islands

The bull sharks of the Bat Islands of northern Costa Rica, we were introduced to these islands thanks to our local shark conservation partners, Mission Tiburon. The team here focuses not just on bull sharks, they also work in the national park on the coastal nurseries documenting via catch and release activities to keep a study on the abundance and seasonal changes of all the local shark and ray species. During the expedition, we successfully tagged bull sharks and manta rays at the big scare while scuba diving. We also worked from the surface using their minimally invasive single hook catch, tag, and release method on numerous rays and sharks. The expedition consisted of the Cocos Legend which is their current research vessel and SY Acadia as we were granted permission to stay in the national park for 4 days. In addition to the team, we also had the pleasure of working with professional photographer and conservationist Diego Mejias and conservationist and shark tagger Jose Berrocal. During the time spent in the waters of the Santa Rosa National Park there is an unmissable amount of evidence of external impact on this area, the evidence of fishing in the park waters from abundant line and hooks around the dive sights, an overwhelming volume of marine debris on the water front and beaches and a huge decline in Bull Sharks at the Big Scare. A good day is seeing 3 to 6 sharks, why they come to this sight and only this sight is interesting and one of the focuses of the team as well as where they give birth, however from discussion with dive guides and locals this was a area of explosive life in all species, however now through overfishing in the past 30 years the decline is present. Through the hard work of teams like Mission Tibron there work is highlighting and helping protect more and more of the waters of Costa Rica allowing the environment to have a better chance to heal and come back to what it once was.