Why are sharks important to the ecosystem?
To say mankind’s relationship with sharks is complicated, is a massive understatement. Maligned for centuries as mindless killing machines, it’s only been very recently in the history of the human race that we’ve come to realise that not only this is not at all the case, but we’ve been beginning to learn that sharks are […]
Sharks and the Impacts of Overfishing
Healthy populations of sharks are critical to a healthy ocean. Typically occupying the top of food webs as apex predators, they keep said food webs in balance. The impact of overfishing of shark populations can cause food webs to become unstable and potentially collapse. Recent science is also revealing the important role sharks have in […]
Upcoming Envoy: Shark Cull Screenings
We are thrilled to offer live screenings of Envoy: Shark Cull around Australia! The ground-breaking documentary, Envoy: Shark Cull, exposes the truth about shark culling programs on Australia’s East Coast and features Humane Society International’s very own marine biologist, Lawrence Chlebeck and Australian Marine Conservation Society’s shark scientist, Dr Leonardo Guida. Upcoming Screenings Cairns 4 […]
Shark Finning 101 – The Facts and the Statistics
Global shark fin trade The global shark and ray (hereafter, ‘sharks’ for simplicity) fin trade appears to be on the rise again. In the last 20 years, volumes of fins exported peaked at around 15,000t in 2002, and began a gradual decline where exports bottomed at around 5,000t in 2013. However, since 2013, there appears […]
Are Sharks Endangered & If So, Why?
Sharks have been on this earth for around 450 million years, that’s before the first tree ever sprouted from a seed (Xu et al. 2017)! They’ve survived five mass extinction events however the question we now ask ourselves is, will they survive Us? Sharks, rays and chimaeras are all cartilaginous (cartilage, the stuff your nose […]
What is a shark cull?
We see the phrase in the newspaper, in online articles; we may hear it at the bus stop or the water cooler, we may have even read a shark culling article – but, what is a shark cull? Culling is when a population of animals is reduced. Most often we hear the term with reference […]
This is what fishing for an endangered shark looks like
Shocking pictures captured covertly on a fishing vessel in Northern Territory waters reveal how hammerhead sharks are being legally fished for fins and flesh despite being endangered in Australian waters. The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and Humane Society International (HSI), who were handed the images, say endangered hammerheads are likely ending up on our […]
NSW is leading the way on shark bite risk management, but can’t let go of shark nets
Last weekend, New South Wales Minister for Agriculture, Dugald Saunders, promoted an $85 million investment in shark bite risk mitigation methods over the next four years. As a result, NSW will see additional instalments of SMART drumlines, more drone surveillance, listening stations, and tags for when large sharks are caught on the SMART drumlines. For […]
Finishing Finning – Australia’s role in the fin trade and why the “fins naturally attached” rule is necessary.
What is shark finning? Firstly, shark finning is illegal in all Australian waters. “Finning” is when a fisher catches a shark, slices off and keeps its fins, and throws the body back in the water. But that doesn’t mean that Australia isn’t involved in the shark fin trade. Because whenever a shark is caught by […]
OCS Conference Dives Deep on Sharks, Science, and Policymaking
Earlier this month, I was in my element at a virtual gathering of the Oceania region’s experts in the science of sharks and rays. At a conference hosted by the Oceania Chondrichthyan Society, many accomplished and world-renowned researchers took to Zoom to share their recent work including Colin Simpfendorfer, Cassie Rigby and a plenary delivery […]
