Grey Nurse Sharks: Project Aware pushes for greater protection

For you shark advocates, here's an important post from my friends at Beqa Adventure Divers in Fiji regarding protection for Grey Nurse Sharks (GNS) in Australia. It's a good follow up to a post I wrote in February of this year on these very sharks.

NSW Grey Nurse Sharks: Bravo PADI!

I must say, I'm increasingly impressed by PADI Asia Pacific.

The team of Mike Holme has been nothing short of stellar whenever we have contacted them for assistance and advice, and now I learn that Project AWARE has thrown its weight behind the campaign aimed at restoring adequate protection for New South Wales' highly vulnerable stocks of GNS after the latest shameful fiasco.

Please read this appeal and please, do act now.
This is industry leadership and I am particularly happy to find an excellent letter that contains all the recommendations I've posted here. This is terribly urgent and important, the more as all the science shows that for all practical purposes, depleted Shark stocks have no real chance of rebounding once they get wiped out as that would take decades if not centuries, i.e. way beyond any reasonable time frame - and I trust that I don't need to remind you of the consequences for the marine environment including the future of those ignorant fishermen!

The GNS stocks are literally on the brink and we simply cannot afford to get this wrong.
The only way we can avert this ecological catastrophe is to show those inept politicians and their rabid cronies from the Fishers and Shooters party that the public wants nothing to do with their appalling disregard of the health of the environment.

Please, do write a letter now.
Please send a copy to David at david.roe@projectaware.org.au and please, do mobilize your friends. Bloggers, please do re-post.
Submission close on Friday, August 26.
Once again, kudos to PADI.

Visit PADI Asia Pacific's website.

Australia's Grey Nurse Sharks: NSW anglers under new restrictions to protect sharks

In New South Wales, Australia, sportfisherman who fish the waters off Fish Rock and Green Island, in the southeast corner of the continent, west of Melbourne, are having to adapt to new fishing techniques and restrictions imposed by the NSW Primary Industries Ministry. The rules were put in place to help protect the grey nurse shark, also known as the sand tiger shark. Congregating in large numbers, these sharks were being accidentally hooked because of the baiting techniques being used.

The fishermen were using bait and wire line, or trace, to fish right off the island's rocky shoreline. Unfortunately, with grey nurse sharks being the typically bottom-feeding scavengers that they are, a baited hook became a tempting target.

“Recently published research suggests that grey nurse sharks are being accidentally hooked in the vicinity of Fish Rock and supports the requirement for increased protection at this site," said Steve Whan, NSW Primary Industries Minister. "Other research being conducted by Industry & Investment NSW at Fish Rock has shown that grey nurse sharks will readily take a range of commonly used baits suggesting the existing rules are unlikely to protect the species from accidental hooking.”

A benign but threatening-looking shark
Grey nurse sharks are not considered a particularly dangerous shark, even though they can grow to be up to 14 feet in length and carry a rather awesome mouthful of long, dagger-like teeth designed for snagging and holding on to fish that they catch with a quick side-to-side snap of their heads. Because of that array of dental armament combined with a rather mild temperament, they have become a popular shark in public aquariums.

When I was a dive team leader at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA, I had the opportunity to spend time with three or four grey nurse sharks (called sand tigers in the U.S.). They were very curious sharks and so, if I was filming, I would have a safety diver behind me with a short pole to shoo away any shark that got a bit too curious. Other times, divers would be in the shark exhibit to clean and another diver would always be watching his or her dive buddy's back. It was a prudent precaution, but not because the sand tigers looked at any of us as a potential meal. It was more a case of curiosity and a bit of a territorial attitude that they exhibited. In fact, it was always a point of concern with the staff, when introducing a new shark or other animal into the exhibit, that the sand tigers might pick on the new arrival. Like West Side Story, the gang of "sharks" in Long Beach were protecting their turf.

I always enjoyed diving with the Aquarium's sand tiger/grey nurse sharks, in addition to the blacktip reef sharks and zebra sharks also on display. But with the sand tigers, you always maintained a careful eye on where they were.

Incremental but important steps
Back in New South Wales, sportfishermen are still allowed to fish at Green Island and Fish Rock, but they must confine their fishing techniques to using artificial flies or lures - devices that seem to not interest the nurse sharks there. Commercial fishing was not affected by the new regulations as they operate further offshore and away from the nurse shark aggregations. The New South Wales government made a sensible incremental step, recognizing the desire of locals anglers to have fishing access while at the same time acknowledging that something needed to be done to avoid needlessly killing the grey nurse sharks there.

Progress can be measured in big steps, like the various anti-shark fin legislative proposals that have passed or are close to passing in several countries. And it can be measured in small steps, like those that are protecting Australia's grey nurse shark.

Read about New South Wales' grey nurse sharks in The Coffs Coast Advocate.

Australian Marine Reserves: government review approves the science that supports their parks

One of the bright spots in ocean conservation has been the worldwide adoption of marine reserve areas. From Hawaii to Australia to the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, marine reserves or parks that prohibit or strictly limit recreational and commercial activities are being recognized as a positive step in preserving delicate marine ecosystems and allowing biodiversity to flourish. A lot more reserves are needed but what we have is a start.

But what defines a marine reserve? What is the method or methods by which the boundaries are determined? Well, this is where scientific research - past and ongoing studies - plays a crucial role. It requires research that examines a whole range of factors - biodiversity, population studies of specific species, water quality and movement patterns, topographical seabed mapping, and more. No one study can do it all, so research accumulates and from this wealth of knowledge, recommendations are made to determine the location and size of the protected area.

But not everyone agrees on the science. Lobbying forces that represent recreational or commercial fishing, and other business interests such as mining and mineral exploration, often question the validity and accuracy of the science. And so the battle rages for the attention and vote of the politicians and decision makers in charge.

Recently, Australia's Department of Environment, Climate Change, and Water commissioned an independent review of the scientific research used to determine its marine reserves, and the results heavily favored the available scientific research. Newly designated areas in New South Wales (NSW) had been heavily criticized, but it would appear by the review that the research that, both, had been done and was planned for the future was sufficient to support the marine reserves.

''The independent review panel found evidence of much ongoing or completed research and monitoring that has taken advantage of established marine parks within NSW,'' the authors of the review wrote, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.

''These are resulting in presentations at conferences and scientific papers published in the international literature, and the reputation of the work being done is, on the whole, excellent.''

The Sydney Morning Herald also quoted Dr. Klaus Koop, the department's conservation and science director, who felt that marine parks not being supported by science was an idea that has been debunked. However, he did make one interesting observation.

''One of the things that we haven't done well enough, perhaps, is communicating exactly what we've done and … what we've found,'' Dr Koop said.

I am a proponent of good media communications for scientific research and that often means a lot more than just published articles in academic journals. Researchers need the assistance of those with media expertise, like myself, in communicating their work to a broader audience - one that includes policy makers, commercial interests, and the general public. The more the information is disseminated in easy-to-understand results and implications, the more challenging it becomes for opposing forces to dismiss or question its legitimacy.

Read the Sydney Morning Herald article.