Citizen science provides valuable data to evaluate elasmobranch diversity and trends throughout the French Polynesia's shark sanctuary.

Observers of the Polynesian Shark Observatory (ORP), a citizen science network organized mainly through the Polynesian dive centers, collected an unprecedented amount of data from more than 13,916 dives spanning 43% of the islands of French Polynesia between July 8, 2011, and April 11, 2018. The objective for this type of data collection, which is not accessible within the standard research context, was to provide a unique dataset, and the opportunity to explore the specific diversity, distribution, seasonality and abundance of many elasmobranch species spread out throughout the territory of French Polynesia. Since the data are based on random citizen observations, the spatial distribution was biased toward the most frequented sites and islands where scuba diving is most developed.

Effects of a COVID-19 lockdown-induced pause and resumption of artificial provisioning on blacktip reef sharks () and pink whiprays () in French Polynesia (East-Pacific).

The tourism activities linked to artificial provisioning of blacktip reef sharks () and pink whiprays () on a specific site in French Polynesia were suddenly and completely stopped due to a COVID-19 lockdown that lasted 6 weeks from March 20 until April 30, 2020. Using both drone footage and underwater counting, we were able to track the abundance of those two species before, during, and after reopening and thus investigate the impact of provisioning on wild shark populations. The absence of any stimulus during this long period resulted in almost total desertion of the site by the elasmobranchs.

Genetic network and breeding patterns of a sicklefin lemon shark (Negaprion acutidens) population in the Society Islands, French Polynesia.

Human pressures have put many top predator populations at risk of extinction. Recent years have seen alarming declines in sharks worldwide, while their resilience remains poorly understood. Studying the ecology of small populations of marine predators is a priority to better understand their ability to withstand anthropogenic and environmental stressors.