Research

My research focus on several complementary subjects around sharks (with a non-exclusive focus on behavior), ecotourism, coral reef restoration, biodiversity and conservation. Some of my projects and missions were based in France, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Oman, Mayotte, Tuvalu and Fiji.I am the principal scientist following the shark dive at Kuata, Fiji, and part of the EthoPredator ANR group where I manage the part of the work focussing on bull shark personalities.

My previous work on Sharks Genetics was done with the CRIOBE and you can find my first author papers references here:

Vignaud TM, Clua E, Mourier J, Maynard J, Planes S (2013) Microsatellite Analyses of Blacktip Reef Sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) in a Fragmented Environment Show Structured Clusters. PLoS ONE 8(4): e61067. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061067

Vignaud TM, Maynard JA, Leblois R, Meekan MG, Vázquez-Juárez R, Ramírez-Macías D, Pierce SJ, Rowat D, Berumen ML, Beeravolu C, Baksay S, Planes S (2014) Genetic structure of populations of whale sharks among ocean basins and evidence for their historic rise and recent decline. Molecular Ecology, 23: 2590–2601. doi: 10.1111/mec.12754

Vignaud TM, Mourier J, Maynard JA, Leblois R, Spaet J, Clua E, Neglia V, Planes S (2014) Blacktip reef sharks, Carcharhinus melanopterus, have high genetic structure and varying demographic histories in their Indo-Pacific range. Molecular Ecology, 23: 5193-5207. doi: 10.1111/mec.12936

I spent countless hours observing and fishing (and always releasing safely) sharks, sometimes for sampling, sometimes for tagging, from black-tip reef sharks to bull and tigers. I also spent over a thousand hours studying bull sharks underwater, learning about their secret lives and focusing on rating their personalities. One of the ongoing project is to emphasize the importance of proper management and the resulting benefit of well-setup and well-run shark dives, as well as the numerous positive effects on ecosystem and local populations.

Those are a few photos from working with sharks – sometimes it takes fishing them but they were always well treated and released healthy !

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