February 5, 2019, Macquarie
University
A study mapping the eastern Australian grey nurse shark population
has found it has declined rapidly over the last few decades, with only 400
breeding sharks left, too few to maintain a healthy population.
The findings reveal that additional protection measures are needed
to halt further population declines
of the critically endangered shark.
The number of breeding individuals remaining is not enough to
maintain genetic health and reduces the ability of the population to survive
future environmental changes.
Diving with grey nurse sharks is a popular attraction at locations
along the east coast of Australia, but the declining population puts the
industry's future in doubt.
The grey nurse shark suffered major declines from overfishing in
the 60s and 70s because they were considered dangerous and are easy to kill,
being relatively slow-moving and aggregating in regular areas. This resulted in
controversial closures of fishing areas.
Despite designated protection areas, the study found that grey
nurse sharks tend to disperse out of these areas and get caught as by-catch or
sometimes killed by entanglement in the shark meshing program, as they travel
between the safe zones.
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