Hammerhead Shark Sanctuary, Golfo Dulce

Education is the key.

In 2010, Golfo Dulce was declared a Marine Responsible Fishing Area, which prohibited trawling by shrimp boats and gill nets. However, longline fishing continued to catch juvenile hammerhead sharks until Gulfo Dulce was declared a hammerhead shark sanctuary in 2018. 

Ocean Blue Tree is supporting Misión Tiburón to strengthen the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark Sanctuary in Golfo Dulce, through education and continued population monitoring. Over 500 children have been engaged through educational activities at Misión Tiburón’s Educational Station. A further 200 young adults have completed a training workshop designed to promote environmental responsible activities and demonstrate alternative livelihoods from fisheries. 

Scientists are monitoring the relative abundance of the scalloped hammerhead shark population in Golfo Dulce to determine the effectivity of the management actions. The team have tagged 90 sharks of 6 different species; tiger shark, scalloped hammerhead, blacktip shark, sharpnose shark, scoophead shark and smalltail shark. The team plan to deploy 10 acoustic and 3 satellite tags to track shark movements inside and outside the protected area.