TAHITI — From their perch on the side of a small boat, three divers tip backward into the sea. Once underwater, shoals of fish, including small red-and-grayish humpback red snapper (Lutjanus gibbus), seem to fly above the divers’ heads, while a titan triggerfish (Balistoides viridescens), yellow and blue with a big mouth, forges its own path in the opposite direction. Inside craggy corals caves, fishes small and large play hide and seek. Suddenly, large tails and caudal fins appear. They’re right there, nestled in a dark cave on the sandy ground. The diving instructor places his right hand above his head, fingers together like a fin: Shark. Three of them. Diving in French Polynesia means encountering sharks. In 2006, the government of this French overseas territory designated its entire exclusive economic zone as a sanctuary for sharks and rays: 5.5 million square kilometers (2.1 million square miles), an area half the size of Canada, where it’s illegal to kill sharks and rays. French Polynesia is one of the last oases for sharks worldwide, and it has become one of the best places to observe them. After nearly two decades as a shark haven, however, a lack of data has made it hard to confirm whether the sanctuary has had its intended effect. Although sharks still face challenges in French Polynesia, mainly from illegal and accidental capture, scientists recently published the first evidence that sharks may indeed be flourishing there. A blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) in a French Polynesian lagoon.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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