i wrote this story last fall and thought you guys might be interested since there’s so much thought given to sharks.
Sharks sensed Hurricane Charley’s approach
By CHAD GILLIS, cegillis@naplesnews.com
December 14, 2004
Weather forecasters may have a thing or two to learn from a creature that’s been plying ocean waters for millions of years.
Tagged sharks in the Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor area apparently left coastal waters about 24 hours before Hurricane Charley made landfall on Aug. 13. Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota has been tagging and studying shark behavior along this coast over the past two years.
According to officials with the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program, sharks along coastal areas near the Charlotte/Lee border detected the storm well before it hit and were much more accurate than human forecasters.
“The sharks in southern Pine Island left about a day before Charley hit,” program director Lisa Beever said. “The weather forecasters didn’t even know (where it was going to make landfall).”
Beever told members of the Estero Bay Agency on Bay Management on Monday that tagged species of the sea’s most feared predator evacuated local waters in favor of safer grounds.
“We don’t know where they went, but we figure they went to deeper water,” Beever said. “They all left at about the same time and they came back at about the same time.”
Bull sharks, blacktips and other species common in Southwest Florida waters seemingly sensed the path of Charley long before meteorologists and emergency management officials pinned down the exact landfall location.During the days leading up to Aug. 13, weather forecasters were predicting Charley would hit farther north in areas such as Tampa Bay.
Hurricane Ivan’s path was also pointed to the Southwest coast, although the storm stayed in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in the northern part of the state.
The sharks in Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor, however, stayed put during that event.
“When Ivan was coming at us they didn’t leave,” ABM chairman Jim Beever saud, “although a lot of people did.”
ABM members typically discuss the latest planned developments or water quality issues in the Estero Bay watershed. Monday, however, the group focused on hurricanes during its first meeting since August.
Bill Opp with the Lee Mosquito Control District said mosquito numbers were actually down after the storm, although reports of ravenous swarms rose during the aftermath.
“The mosquito populations were really down, but citizens were probably seeing more because they were outside doing work and refurbishing their homes,” Opp said. “We have had a lot of citizen complaints, especially after Charley.”
Opp said mosquito control officials sprayed much of the affected areas almost immediately after the storm. Opp also said that West Nile Virus numbers around the state shrunk this year. West Nile is a virus transmitted by freshwater mosquito species.
“We expected much higher numbers,” Opp said. “It’s half or less than half of what we had last year.”
Most of the coastal bald eagle nests were lost during the storm as well, although many pairs have already started establishing a new breeding site. Some Southwest Florida eagles have even rebuilt nests in the severed remains of their former host trees.
Other native birds seem to be doing quite well in the post-hurricane months.
“The scrub jays (in the Charlotte Harbor area) just did great,” Jim Beever said. “They seem to be thriving from the storm damage. They’re just happy, hopping-along.”
Thank You!
These are the type of observations that form the hypotheses for great discoveries in science. This was most interesting.
you’re quite welcome
seizure
Saw a thing on tv about a lady whose dog would warn her a few minutes before a seizure. Chinese record aniaml behavior before a quake. And what a miracle that birds in mexico can find a speck in the pacific known as hawaii. My dog saved us from fire by waking us up and alerting us to electrical fire. WE did not try to reach the dog how to roll over. We called the dog dumbo because we could not teach it anything but it taught us and saved us.
seizure
Saw a thing on tv about a lady whose dog would warn her a few minutes before a seizure. Chinese record aniaml behavior before a quake. And what a miracle that birds in mexico can find a speck in the pacific known as hawaii. My dog saved us from fire by waking us up and alerting us to electrical fire. WE did not try to reach the dog how to roll over. We called the dog dumbo because we could not teach it anything but it taught us and saved us.
Sharks And Hurricanes
After a hurricane, the big offshore species come in closer to shore. Not sure why, but I learned this the hard way in South Carolina after Hurricane David…