OLOWALU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A team of shark researchers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa have solved a longstanding mystery.

Biologists from the the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology Shark Lab have identified the first-ever documented tiger shark mating hub.

Six years of acoustic tracking data led the team to pinpoint the area at Olowalu, Maui, leading them to new discoveries about the nature and timing of tiger shark mating and its correlation to Maui’s whale calving season.

This new finding challenges the understanding of tiger sharks as purely solitary animals.

“To our knowledge, no group mating site for tiger sharks has ever been identified. This paper adds an important piece to the puzzle of tiger shark reproduction,” said Carl Meyer, co-author of the study and principal investigator of the HIMB Shark Lab.

Researchers were able to show evidence that tiger sharks have a predictable seasonal gathering of mature males and females that coincides with humpback whale calving season in Hawaii.

Until this discovery, it was unclear how or if tiger sharks came together to reproduce or if mating was just a result of random encounters.

“Tiger sharks typically roam widely in what can seem like random patterns, so finding such a strong and consistent seasonal trend in their movements around Maui was unexpected,” said Paige Wernli, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the HIMB Shark Lab.

The years-long tracking data showed a predictable seasonal presence of both mature male and female tiger sharks at Olowalu, as well as physical evidence of mating activity.

The apparent mating hub happens during the time of year when humpback whale mothers and newborn calves arrive in the area.

The Shark Lab team says the correlation could mean that the sharks are positioning themselves near foraging opportunities, like vulnerable calves or placental falls.

“Mating and foraging on humpback whales may not be mutually exclusive,” Wernli said. “And both could influence tiger shark movement patterns in Hawaii.”

The tiger shark gatherings they observed were not dense but rather diffuse, spanning several kilometers over multiple months.

“This study expands our knowledge of tiger shark mating and challenges our conventional understanding of the term ‘gathering,’” said Meyer. “Together, the results suggest that both reproduction and food availability play key roles in shaping tiger shark movements in Hawaii.”

During the six-year study, the team was able to safely catch and implant transmitters in large sharks, then keep a vast network of underwater listening stations across the main Hawaiian Islands.

In the future, the Shark Lab team plans to use tags with cameras and other data collecting capabilities to document both their mating behaviors and shark-whale interactions.

This work was funded by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System.

Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

More than 10 hours after taking his first swing in a match on Wednesday, Justin Todd was ready to play even more.

Fortunately for the third-ranked Rainbow Warriors, no more volleyball was needed after Todd’s kill ended a long day with a 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 25-13 victory over Rockhurst to complete a doubleheader at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 3,721 came through the turnstile to see Hawaii improve to 5-1 after an earlier sweep of Roberts Wesleyan with six reserves playing in the starting lineup.

The second match took a bit longer after a combined 15 hitting and service errors briefly set the Rainbow Warriors back in the third set. It was the first set UH has dropped in a win this season.

“We got progressively worse until we got really good,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “I think everybody deserves a little frustration. Guys aren’t making errors on purpose, but we’ve got some work to do.”

Playing with the regular starters at opposite, outside, libero and setter, UH hit .382 for the match but committed 24 service errors.

Kristian Titriyski and Adrien Roure each had a match-high 15 kills and libero Quintin Greenidge had a match-high 10 digs.

Todd, who switched positions back to middle from the outside a week before the season began, remarkably looked like he barely broke a sweat after playing all seven sets.

UH had two healthy middle blockers listed on the official roster. Mitchell Croft, a 6-foot-9 sophomore outside and opposite, has practiced in the middle after playing there for the Australian senior national team over the summer.

“Mitch has been taking reps so we have another in there and Trevell (Jordan) is getting better. We will see about Friday. It’s still a question,” Wade said.

Todd finished with six kills, two aces and two blocks and wasn’t overly concerned about playing more.

“I’m always excited to play some more volleyball. I was happy to get the ending kill, but I wouldn’t have been upset if we were playing more. I need the reps,” Todd said. “I felt bad for AP because it would have been a great chance for him to get in the game and get him experience. Seeing him go down, I just felt bad for him.”

AP, in reference to Alex Parks, was injured in practice Tuesday and had his ankle wrapped as he sat on the UH bench. Jordan has missed the last three matches and freshman Roman Payne isn’t expected to debut anytime soon.

Roure’s one-on-none smash kill from the back row ended an opening set in which UH got off to a slow start.

Rockhurst led as late as 11-10 before UH cut down on its hitting errors and went to work. Hawaii put down its last six kills without an error and hit .450 despite the six service errors.

UH’s serving issues continued in the second set and Wade used a timeout with his team ahead 20-17 after the Rainbow Warriors gave up four consecutive points that included a service error, an ace and an out of rotation violation.

Hawaii scored five of the final seven points with Todd finishing it off with an ace.

Rockhurt beat Hawaii to the 15-point media timeout in the third set with a triple block of Titriyski putting the Hawks ahead 15-14.

The Hawks stole the set with their final four points coming on either hitting errors or service errors by the Rainbow Warriors, who upped their total to 20 serving errors in three sets.

“We’ve got to come out with some more fire from the beginning,” Todd said.

Hawaii responded with a commanding victory in the fourth set. UH had kills in nine of its first 11 attempts to lead 15-6 at the media timeout. Roure served three consecutive aces to give him five in the match.

Hawaii will play both teams again on Friday in reverse order with Rockhurst the opponent in the opening match at 11 a.m. UH is likely to roll with the same lineups in the morning and evening matches.

NO. 3 HAWAII DEF. ROCKHURST 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 25-13

HAWKS (1-3)

NO. PLAYER SP K E TA H% K% A SA SE RE D BS BA TB BE BHE PTS

7 Spadaro 4 8 5 23 .130 .348 2 0 5 2 5 0 3 3 0 0 9.5

8 Sutphen 4 8 4 20 .200 .400 0 1 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 9.5

24 Tran 4 8 6 28 .071 .286 1 1 6 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 10.0

11 Deroy 4 5 0 7 .714 .714 0 0 0 1 2 1 2 3 1 0 7.0

10 Yusk 4 3 2 10 .100 .300 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 4.5

3 Jacques 4 1 0 1 1.00 1.0028 3 2 0 5 0 3 3 0 0 5.5

1 Massey 2 0 0 0 .000 .000 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

4 Soto 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

12 Mccue 2 0 0 0 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

15 Huhman 1 0 1 1 -1.00 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

17 Collins 4 0 0 0 .000 .000 1 0 0 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

Totals 4 33 18 90 .167 .367 32 5 20 10 19 2 12 7 1 0 46.0

RAINBOW WARRIORS (5-1)

NO. PLAYER SP K E TA H% K% A SA SE RE D BS BA TB BE BHE PTS

7 Roure 4 15 5 24 .417 .625 0 5 5 0 7 0 1 1 0 0 20.5

10 Titriyski 4 15 6 25 .360 .600 1 0 3 0 6 0 3 3 0 0 16.5

23 Sakanoko 4 9 3 19 .316 .474 1 0 1 3 1 1 2 3 0 0 11.0

9 Todd 4 6 2 13 .308 .462 0 2 4 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 9.0

16 Hazan 4 3 0 4 .750 .750 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 4 0 0 5.0

13 Rosenthal 4 2 0 4 .500 .50044 2 7 0 2 1 1 2 0 0 5.5

4 Wade 4 0 0 0 .000 .000 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.0

11 Kearney 3 0 0 0 .000 .000 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

22 Greenidge 4 0 0 0 .000 .000 3 0 0 1 10 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

Team 1

Totals 4 50 16 89 .382.562 49 10 24 5 30 2 13 8 0 0 68.5

T — 2:05. A — 3,721. Officials — Dickson Chun, Randy Rubonal, Kerwin Stenstrom,

Hunter Haliniak.

Key — SP: Sets played; K: kills; E: hitting errors; TA: Total attempts; H%: Hitting percentage; K%: Kill percentage; A: Assists; SA: Service ace; SE: Service error; RE: receiving error; D: Digs; BS: Block solos; BA: Block assist; TB: Total team blocks; BE: Block errors;

BHE: Ball-handling errors; PTS: Points (kills plus blocks plus aces).

Nick Taylor won the Sony Open in Hawaii a year ago in dramatic fashion, as he needed a playoff to earn his fifth PGA Tour win. It was the third year in a row the Canadian won a tournament in a playoff.

This year, he’s back on the island of Oahu to defend his title at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. The Sony, traditionally the second tournament of the season, gets lead-off honors in 2026 after The Sentry was canceled.

With rumors swirling about significant schedule changes coming in 2027, the Sony Open might fall off the radar.

“It’ll be a place that I’ll miss a lot, not just this tournament, but the state of Hawaii,” Taylor said during his media session Wednesday after his morning pro-am. “It’s one with Maui being such an awesome event over the years feeling like such an accomplishment to play there. Other than last couple years if win you’re playing in that golf tournament. It just felt like it was a great start to the year.