Groundbreaking study led by UH Hilo graduate student and thesis advisor finds juvenile blacktip sharks present year-round in Hilo Bay
Study led by graduate student Lauren Moe under the mentorship of thesis advisor Jason Turner finds Hilo Bay the first known blacktip shark nursery habitat in Hawaiian waters.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
(Update 7/26/2026: This story was published when only the study’s summary was available and has been updated to reflect the full study now published).
A groundbreaking study on blacktip sharks in Hilo Bay, co-authored by a graduate student and her thesis advisor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, is published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. The study shows the first known blacktip shark nursery habitat in Hawaiian waters.
The study is the thesis work of then-graduate student Lauren Moe (now with a master of science in tropical conservation biology and environmental science from UH Hilo and currently a doctoral student at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks) with Associate Professor of Marine Science Jason Turner as her advisor and a co-author along with Jay Rooker and RJ David Wells from Texas A&M and Steve Colbert, a professor also from the marine science department at UH Hilo.
Associate Professor Turner is a large vertebrate ecologist who focuses on food webs and feeding; his research primarily focuses on the study of marine mammals, sea turtles, and fishes, including sharks. “I have been studying populations of fishes including sharks, sea turtles and humpback whales and asking questions about habitat use and movement patterns,” he says about his research.
Turner places great emphasis on providing mentorship for his students, often as thesis advisor. With his students involved in all of his research, Turner’s “field work” — from ocean ponds to the open sea — is often adventurous and inspiring for his nascent marine scientists. And at the core of it all is a deep dedication to placed-based research and education, mentorship and field work for his students, and an unwavering respect for Native Hawaiian ways of gaining scientific knowledge. (Learn more)
The study: Hilo Bay, a tropical nursery habitat for juvenile blacktip sharks
Movement patterns and habitat use of blacktip sharks in the Hawaiian Islands is poorly understood, and no nursery habitats had yet been discovered within Hawaiʻi. The new study presented by Moe and research team support the delineation of Hilo Bay as the first known blacktip shark nursery habitat in Hawaiian waters.
In their study the researchers note that blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) are a circumglobal species that rely on nearshore nursery habitats during their early years.
For the research, juvenile blacktip sharks were caught and tagged in Hilo Bay with acoustic transmitters. Tracking occurred every two to five weeks between July 2022 and January 2024 at 44 stations throughout Hilo Bay using a receiver and omnidirectional hydrophone.
The study’s results show juvenile blacktip sharks are present in the bay year-round, with the greatest monthly residence from March through August, and the lowest monthly residence from October through January. Blacktip sharks were detected within Hilo Bay more during the day than at night, but more frequently in deeper waters at night, which is likely due to excursions into deeper waters during heightened nocturnal foraging activity.
“Our results suggest that this population of blacktip sharks reside predominantly within Hilo Bay for the first few years of their life, and highlight the effect that environmental changes can have on this species’ habitat availability and movement patterns,” the authors say.
A final formatted version of the published paper is now available (July 26, 2026).
Integrating Western science and Hawaiian science
Turner notes the blacktip shark study involved the incorporation of Hawaiian cultural practices.
“In the Hawaiian worldview, setting intention, acknowledging the entities of space and time, asking permission, offering hoʻokupu (ceremonial gifts), and expressing gratitude are rituals required of kānaka as part of a reciprocal exchange with the elements,” explains Turner.
Under the guidance of UH Hilo marine science alumna Roxane Keliʻikipikāneokolohaka who has a doctorate in education and serves as poʻo (executive director) of Kiaʻi Kanaloa, a Native Hawaiian organization, the field work and handling of sharks in Moe’s thesis project included training in Native Hawaiian protocols. These cultural practices included setting intentions with a chant (Manomano Nā Akua Manō) written by Keliʻikipikāneokolohaka for use by Turner as part of his Indigenist research methodology for sharks and rays, and the making of hoʻokupu, which Turner does before every field season.
More to come
For the next steps, Turner and student research teams are working on long-term dynamics of shark and ray populations in Hilo Bay over the past 15 years.
Learn more about Jason Turner’s research and the Indigenist Model at the website Keaohou.
Updates: In the News
Hawaii News Now
Researchers study first known blacktip shark nursery in Hawaiian waters (July 29, 2026)
Big Island Now
VIDEO: Blacktip shark nursery discovered in Hilo Bay (July 29, 2026)
Story by Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
