Jean-Yves (Tag) Forest is ready to deploy a satellite pop-up archival tag on a Greenland shark for GEERG research.

A GEERG team tagged a Greenland shark with a satellite transmitter on October 20. The tag is scheduled to release after a period of 365 days on October 20, 2013. If successful, the data collected over an entire year will constitute the longest continuous study of a Greenland shark’s diel movements. It will also be the first time that a Greenland shark’s movements are recorded during the winter months in the St. Lawrence Estuary.

Satellite tag deployment by GEERG is made possible thanks to Dalhousie University (Worm Lab), the Quebec Aquarium, and the Musée du Fjord. The tag deployed on a 3-m Greenland shark was named ‘Jack’ in honour of the late Jacques Lacoursière of the borough of La Baie (Ville de Saguenay), Quebec. Mr. Lacoursière was a close friend and collaborator of GEERG and the Musée du Fjord during our early explorations in the Saguenay Fjord.

Several more satellite and acoustic tags will be deployed after the launch of GEERG’s new research vessel, Skalugsuak, in May 2013.

The GEERG team was accompanied by National Geographic Magazine photographers David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes.

Dive Team: Jeffrey Gallant (Lead Scientist), Paul Boissinot (Diving Safety Officer), Jean-Yves “Tag” Forest (Tag deployment).

Quebec Shark Observatory

The mission of the Quebec Shark Observatory (QSO), a new division of GEERG, is to study all of the shark and ray species of the St. Lawrence Estuary and Gulf, and to share the results of our research with the scientific community and the public at large.

The logo of the QSO contains the silhouette of a blue shark – a gulf species – which resembles the fleur de lys of the Quebec flag. The ‘O’ illustrates both the Observatory and the world ocean since some sharks that inhabit the waters of Quebec seasonally migrate to other parts of the North Atlantic. The caudal fin (tail) of the shark completes the letter ‘Q’ of Quebec. The colour blue represents water and the flag of Quebec.

One of the first projects of the QSO is to create the world’s first visual shark observation system in Baie-Comeau, Quebec. The live images broadcast by the webcameras will be accessible to the general public, schools and other learning institutions in the fall of 2013.

R/V Skalugsuak at Verreault Navigation on June 13, 2012

The refit of the R/V Skalugsuak is underway at the Verreault Navigation shipyard in the town of Les Méchins, Quebec.

Over the course of the last month, Verreault engineers and mechanics have built and installed a dive platform, a housing for our SCUBA compressor, and new carburetors. The boat was put back into the water on June 13 in order to perform a stability test (ISO 12217-1) to conform with Transport Canada requirements.

Remaining work will focus on interior carpentry, engine fine-tuning and a complete overhaul of the boat’s two transmissions.

Paul Boissinot, Jill Marvin and Jeffrey Gallant at the Quebec Aquarium

GEERG President Jeffrey Gallant attended a reception to mark the opening of the Aquarium du Québec‘s (Quebec Aquarium) new pavilion on May 17.

Upon being taken to the shark and ray exhibit by curator Jill Marvin and the diving safety officer Paul Boissinot, Jeffrey was pleasantly surprised to see a quote of his on the wall by the tank:

“Apathy bites deeper than any shark. It’s time to stop scaring, and to start caring.” – Jeffrey Gallant (GEERG)

On May 11, the Minister of Sustainable Development, the Environment and Parks, Mr. Pierre Arcand, and the Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade and Minister Responsible for the National Capital Region, Mr. Sam Hamad, officially opened the Aquarium’s new pavilion, which houses jellyfish, sea dragons, seahorses, rays and bonnethead sharks.

“Beyond entertainment, Aquarium du Québec fulfills an educational and awareness mission focussing on respect for the environment and the protection of biodiversity. This is why we have invested $8 M to build this new pavilion. This is a major element in the Aquarium’s development and it fits appropriately into one of the main development axes prioritized by the Comité performance de l’industrie touristique”, declared Minister Arcand.

L’Aquarium du Québec has provided GEERG with logistical and financial support for many years. The Aquarium’s generous contribution allows us to pursue much-needed research on the sharks of Quebec and Canada. Merci beaucoup !

The CFP Paul-Rousseau trade school also built GEERG’s aluminum shark observation cage in 2000 during filming for Discovery Channel’s (Canada) Sharks of the Great White North.

Kato at the CFP Paul-Rousseau trade school in Drummondville

The Kato is loaded onto its trailer at the CFP Paul-Rousseau trade school in Drummondville

One of Kato's floor panels is repaired at the CFP Paul-Rousseau trade school in Drummondville

Flag of the R/V Skalugsuak and her auxiliary dive tender, the Kato.

The flag of the R/V Skalugsuak was created by GEERG artist-in-residence, Jean-Louis Courteau.

The shark is a modified version of the GEERG logo which represents both the Greenland shark and sharks in general. The Eye, since the days of Ancient Egypt, is the symbol of choice to represent consciousness, research, knowledge and study. The colour blue is unmistakably associated with water and the sea, and with “things going well.”

A pennant version of the Skalugsuak flag will be flown on her auxiliary dive tender, the Kato.

Blaise Barrette and Sandra Daoust with her sculpture of the Mother Shark inspired by the Haïda art style of Canada’s Pacific coast. Photo © Jeffrey Gallant (GEERG.ca)

Throughout the 2011 refit of the Skalugsuak at the Verreault Navigation Shipyard (Les Méchins, Québec), we received much assistance from our friends Blaise Barrette and Sandra Daoust of the Underwater Observation Network (OUN) who accommodated me in their Saint-­Léandre home for much of the summer.

Blaise helped at the shipyard and Sandra reconditioned all of the wood panelling on the boat. She also created a beautiful work of art that will be the soul of the Skalugsuak. Sandra sculpted an effigy of the Mother Shark, a graphic representation of a shark and its offspring inspired by the Haïda art style of Canada’s Pacific coast.

Since space on the boat is limited, the relief sculpture will ornate the table in the main cabin. During meals or while analysing telemetry data, the Mother Shark will remind us that our research must always serve the cause of sharks, of the marine environment, and of future generations. Thank you Sandra!

Dr. Boris Worm and a colleague discuss their observations after diving in baie des Anglais, near Baie-­Comeau. Photo © Jeffrey Gallant (GEERG.ca)

The Worm Lab from Dalhousie University has teamed up with GEERG to study the movements of the Greenland shark and the basking shark in the St. Lawrence Gulf and Estuary.

Thanks to the contribution of Dr. Boris Worm who is known worldwide for his leading scientific contributions on fish populations, we will be able to deploy six pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) in 2012. This type of transmitter has the advantage of not requiring an underwater receiver to record the data. We may thus follow the movements of tagged sharks no matter how far they travel.

The first tentative deployment on the Greenland shark will take place in June 2012 in the Baie-­Comeau area. Basking shark tag deployments will take place later in the summer off the Gaspé Peninsula.

The Worm Lab includes students and postdoctoral fellows engaged in the study of marine biodiversity, its causes, consequences of change, and conservation.

R/V Skalugsuak at the Verreault Navigation shipyard

The Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG) recently took possession of a new boat thanks to a generous donation by Verreault Navigation.

The Skalugsuak – Inuit name of the Greenland shark – was modernised and adapted to GEERG’s requirements at the Groupe Maritime Verreault shipyard last summer. The acquisition of the Skalugsuak will greatly reduce expenditures related to fieldwork and lodging since the crew will be able to sleep in the cabin as well as fill SCUBA tanks from an onboard compressor donated by the Eden Conservation Trust and Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada.

Thanks to this boat, GEERG scientists will undertake their most important study to date on the Greenland shark in the St. Lawrence Estuary and Saguenay Fjord. Acoustic and satellite emitters will be attached to sharks during the summer of 2012 in order to better understand their distribution as well as how environmental conditions influence their movements in the Baie-­Comeau area. Donations from other GEERG affiliates have also allowed us to equip the Skalugsuak with new scientific and navigation equipment. These generous contributions mark the beginning of a new stage in the history of our private research group, which receives no official funding.

Jeffrey and Mario filmed panoramic images with a highly specialised video platform equipped with three cameras in order to showcase the unique underwater heritage of the Saguenay Fjord. After diving for three decades all over the world, Jeffrey does not hesitate to say that the Saguenay Fjord has been his favourite dive destination for many years. In fact, it was in the fjord at La Baie (2001) and Rivière-Éternité (2002) that we undertook our first research expeditions to study the Greenland shark.

Mario Cyr, Claude Fortin and Jeffrey Gallant with the video platform. Photo © GEERG.ca

Jeffrey and Mario wait for the video platform while conducting tests at the dock in l’Anse-Saint-Jean. Photo © GEERG.ca