Utila Lodge has made a boat and crew available for the duration of this study and has arranged for rental of a spotter plane to locate whale sharks. The tagger enters the water, records the size and sex of the shark and notes any unusual markings. Then the shark is photographed and tagged. When possible, tissue samples are retrieved for mtDNA analysis. Water temperature, time of day, and environmental data are also recorded.
Visual tags have their limitations.
A satellite tag enables researchers to track an individual shark, monitor its location and swimming depth. In April and July 1998, visual ID tags were placed on three whale sharks off Utila. In February 1999 the first satellite tag was deployed and a total of five whale sharks were tagged with visual ID tags. To obtain more data, tissue biopsies for mtDNA analysis were also extracted from the five sharks. It is hoped that these tissue samples will enable researchers to determine if and how whale sharks in the Caribbean are related to those found in the Indian Ocean.