AUTHOR=Gallagher Austin J. , Shipley Oliver N. , van Zinnicq Bergmann Maurits P. M. , Brownscombe Jacob W. , Dahlgren Craig P. , Frisk Michael G. , Griffin Lucas P. , Hammerschlag Neil , Kattan Sami , Papastamatiou Yannis P. , Shea Brendan D. , Kessel Steven T. , Duarte Carlos M. TITLE=Spatial Connectivity and Drivers of Shark Habitat Use Within a Large Marine Protected Area in the Caribbean, The Bahamas Shark Sanctuary JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science VOLUME=7 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.608848 DOI=10.3389/fmars.2020.608848 ISSN=2296-7745 ABSTRACT=
Marine protected areas (MPAs) have emerged as potentially important conservation tools for the conservation of biodiversity and mitigation of climate impacts. Among MPAs, a large percentage has been created with the implicit goal of protecting shark populations, including 17 shark sanctuaries which fully protect sharks throughout their jurisdiction. The Commonwealth of the Bahamas represents a long-term MPA for sharks, following the banning of commercial longlining in 1993 and subsequent designation as a shark sanctuary in 2011. Little is known, however, about the long-term behavior and space use of sharks within this protected area, particularly among reef-associated sharks for which the sanctuary presumably offers the most benefit. We used acoustic telemetry to advance our understanding of the ecology of such sharks, namely Caribbean reef sharks (