SAWFISH NEWS: Researchers Tag Three Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish inside Tampa Bay

July 5, 2023 Giacomo Abrusci, SEVENSEAS Media Editor-in-Chief Issue 98 - July 2023, Ocean Literacy

By Tonya Wiley, Havenworth Coastal Conservation

About two and a half feet long, this smalltooth sawfish was tagged and released inside Tampa Bay in June 2023. All research activities were performed under the authority and guidelines of NMFS ESA permit #21857. © Tonya Wiley

Sightings of endangered sawfish on the Florida Gulf Coast north of Charlotte Harbor are rare, especially those of small ones. But thanks to several reports from the public, scientists responded to the area around Rattlesnake Key in lower Tampa Bay and successfully caught, tagged, and released three sawfish* in May and June. The three sawfish, all male and about two feet long and one month old, were found in about 6 inches of water, on a sand flat near the mangrove shoreline.

Havenworth Coastal Conservation (HCC), based in Palmetto, was awarded a grant by the Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) to study the endangered smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. The DCF funding supports two years of work (2022-2023) with two goals. First, using ﬁeld research and public outreach and education to collect crucial information about the historical and current population of endangered smalltooth sawﬁsh in the greater Tampa Bay area. Second, in collaboration with Shark Advocates International, using local, state, federal, and international policy initiatives to conserve and promote the recovery of sawﬁsh and their habitats in the United States. Previous funding to HCC from the Save Our Seas Foundation allowed for three years (2019-2021) of initial investigation into the use of the Tampa Bay region by endangered sawfish and involved a lot of outreach to educate the public about the species and solicit encounter reports. Those efforts led to multiple reports of sawfish sightings at Redington Beach that resulted in HCC responding to capture, tag, and release two newborn sawfish in April and May 2021.

Lukas Heath (left) and Tonya Wiley released a sawfish tagged inside Tampa Bay in May 2023. Lukas is a Fish Biologist with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Charlotte Harbor Field Laboratory and Tonya is President of Havenworth Coastal Conservation and Lead Investigator for sawfish research in the greater Tampa Bay Area. All research activities were performed under the authority and guidelines of NMFS ESA permit #21857. ©Tonya Wiley

“We are very grateful for the support from DCF which allows us to continue to investigate the use of the region by endangered smalltooth sawfish” said Tonya Wiley, President of HCC and lead investigator for sawfish research in the greater Tampa Bay Area. “This funding is critical to our ability to continue our sawfish-related research efforts and expand our public outreach and education initiatives in Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Hernando, and Pasco counties”.

An acoustic receiver deployed in Tampa Bay. © Tonya Wiley.

The three sawfish were each implanted with a 4-year acoustic transmitter*. Acoustic receiver listening stations placed in the Tampa Bay area and beyond will record the movements of these tagged sawfish, allowing scientists to study how long they remain in the area and how they use Tampa Bay habitats. HCC’s sawfish receivers are part of an array of receivers in Tampa Bay, Terra Ceia Bay, and Manatee River deployed to track the residency and movements of a variety of shark and ray species in collaboration with Dr. Jayne Gardiner at New College of Florida. The Tampa Bay array is part of a vast collaborative network of these listening stations in the southeastern United States through partners at UF/FWRI MERR Lab and the iTAG, FACT, and OTN programs.

A small skin sample collected from a fin of each sawfish will be processed by sawfish geneticist, Kevin Feldheim at The Field Museum, to determine if the three sawfish are siblings and to provide additional information about their relatedness to other sawfish in the U.S. research database.

receiver Jayne downloading — Dr. Jayne Gardiner downloads data from one of the acoustic receivers in Tampa Bay. ©Tonya Wiley.

To find sawfish pups north of their typical nursery areas (Charlotte Harbor to Everglades National Park) is remarkably interesting and very exciting in terms of potential steps toward population recovery. “Following 20 years of protections under the Endangered Species Act, this is yet another sign that the smalltooth sawfish population may be expanding northward and reestablishing nursery areas in Tampa Bay,” said Adam Brame, the NOAA Fisheries U.S. Sawfish Recovery Coordinator.

VR2 map as of July 2022 color coded — Approximate locations of the acoustic receiver listening stations used to record the movements of tagged animals. This collaborative Tampa Bay array is maintained by the UF/FWRI MERR Lab, New College of Florida, Havenworth Coastal Conservation, and the Sarasota Coast Acoustic Network (Mote Marine Laboratory and Sarasota Dolphin Research Program). ©Jayne Gardiner.

This story highlights the importance of public outreach and the value of citizen science. All three sawfish were found thanks to reports from people who saw and reported them. If you ever catch or see a sawfish anywhere in the United States, please share the information with the U.S. Sawfish Recovery Team by visiting www.SawfishRecovery.org, calling 1-844-4SAWFISH, emailing sawfish@myfwc.com, or submitting the information through the FWC Reporter app. Your encounter report might lead scientists to tag the next endangered smalltooth sawfish in the Tampa Bay area!

*All research activities were performed under the authority and guidelines of NMFS ESA permit #21857.