Pelagic Shark Satellite Tag data - Basking Shark

The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), is a species found in Atlantic Canadian waters which is mostly encountered “basking” on the surface waters and sometimes caught accidentally in commercial fisheries. One Pop-up Satellite Archival Tag (PSAT Mk10) from Wildlife Computers was applied to a single female basking shark in September 2008 on a commercial vessel to collect data on depth (pressure), temperature and ambient light level (for position estimation). The basking shark was 610 cm Total Length (curved). The tag released on the pre-programmed date 125 days after deployment. Raw data transmitted from the PSAT’s after release was processed through Wildlife Computers software (GPE3) to get summary files, assuming a maximum swimming speed of 2m/s, NOAA OI SST V2 High Resolution data set for SST reference and ETOPO1-Bedrock dataset for bathymetry reference. The maximum likelihood position estimates are available in .csv and .kmz format and depth and temperature profiles are also in .csv format. Other tag outputs as well as metadata from the deployment can be obtained upon request from: warren.joyce@dfo-mpo.gc.ca or heather.bowlby@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.