The COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on the absence of diver-shark interaction on blacktip reef shark’s agonistic behavior: Morotai case

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Prior to COVID-19 pandemic, Morotai waters was well known as one of the favorite destination for shark watching tourism in Indonesia. Similar to other animal sighting tourism in Indonesia, shark diving has been hit hard by the pandemic of COVID-19 and has been banned since April 2020. However, the absence of tourist or diver on the shark dive site brings opportunity to investigate the impact of prolonged absence of diver-shark interaction on the blacktip reef shark’s agonistic behavior. The researches on blacktip reef shark’s agonistic behavior were conducted using diver operated video technique in monthly basis from May to October 2020. These data were compared with the previous diver-shark interaction videos from January 2013 to February 2020. Comparison of both pre-COVID-19 pandemic and during COVID-19 pandemic found that the blacktip reef shark’s agonistic behavior toward diver were not affected significantly by the absence of diver.