Jessie Gartlan

On Shark-plan 2:

The need for urgent protection of sharks in Australian waters is clear. We are home to a diverse shark population and their rapidly declining numbers due to targeted and non-targeted fishing, non-commercial fishing, swimmer protection methods and habitat destruction should place their protection at a very high priority. They play a vital role in the maintenance of Australian marine ecosystems, and yet we are systematically wiping them out.

The Shark-plan  has the potential to head shark research, education and protection on a national level.

Shark Finning

Shark finning must be restricted or banned as soon as possible. This is a cruel, unsustainable, unnecessary practice which is only leading to further, unnecessary destruction of shark populations.
Further necessary actions are:

• Identify and protect critical habitats for all shark and ray species listed under Federal, State and Territory legislation. 
• Restrict imports of shark products derived from unsustainable fisheries.
• Introduce comprehensive trade codes for import and export to enable adequate monitoring of Australian trade in shark products. 
• Implement trials of actions to reduce shark and ray bycatch in fisheries. 
• Ensure that the CSIRO/AFMA Ecological Risk Assessments are used to assess and determine risks to sharks from fishing.
• Improve transparency and accountability by ensuring that representatives from environmental NGOs are included in the Shark Implementation Review Committee, which is responsible for the execution and oversight of the plan. 

Habitat

The establishment of a network of marine parks wherein all sharks and other marine species are protected is a must in a country that has such a unique and bio-diverse marine environment which is so heavily threatened. This in itself will be a significant step in ensuring the effective management of our shark populations, providing a safe haven and  respite for all marine species, and most significantly those shark species that are vulnerable or high risk.
Examining the impact of commercial fishing, habitat destruction and pollution on marine habitats and the effect on shark populations should also be a high priority. I am highly concerned about the lack of data and data collection methods on so many fronts. Before real and effectual action can be taken, this must be addressed on all levels, across all jurisdictions, where necessary.

Data / Research

Frameworks for communication, risk assessment, data collection and implementation of action between the jurisdictions must be utilised or developed then utilised urgently. Without the structures and frameworks in place to advance Shark Plan-2 across the board, we further delay the protection of our shark populations and risk eliminating high-risk or vulnerable species. Sharks clearly play an enormous role in our marine ecosystems, being an apex predator, and yet we still only know the bare bones of their role. The precautionary principle ought to be a given when it comes to managing this precious resource for whom the balance can be so easily, and in fact has already been, tipped.

Protection

Commercial fisheries can take vast quantities of sharks and often result in drastic declines of the targeted shark stocks. Many commercial shark fisheries have collapsed after very large numbers of animals were taken over a short period of time. These fisheries have still not recovered to their former levels and are sometimes described as 'boom and bust' because they are not sustainable. Given that we don't have the means to accurately report target catch and distribution, target shark fishing must be scaled back until we can accurately assess the sustainability of this practice.

Many of Australia's shark, ray and chimera species are caught in local fisheries. A handful of these are targeted by commercial fishers, and are therefore well-known, but many others are taken incidentally as by catch; such as Australia's south east trawl fishery that takes several deep water species, all of which are of conservation concern.

By-catch is another major cause of shark deaths.

For example, blue sharks are caught in very large numbers in ocean drift nets and in long lines set for tuna and squid. Although they receive much less publicity than the cetaceans, birds and turtles trapped and drowned in this way, the total of sharks killed by these fisheries exceed that for all the other vertebrates (excluding bony fish) taken as by-catch. The shark by-catch is often just discarded dead at sea, or only the fins taken.

Even hook and line fisheries, which are less environmentally damaging than drift netting, catch very large numbers of sharks. The long-line fishery for southern bluefin tuna off Tasmania is thought to result in a seasonal by-catch of some 43,500 blue sharks, mainly immature or adolescent females.
This information further illustrates the dire need for clear guidelines, clear communication networks across all jurisdictions, protected areas for sharks of all species, liberal use of the precaution principle, accurate and consistent data collection methods and serious consideration of the sustainability of sharks for continuing to use them for so many products,

as well as an immediate ban of shark fins within Australia, whether caught in Australian waters or imported from overseas.
At the very least, the following must be implemented as soon as is possible:

• The establishment of a network of marine parks in which no shark species may be fished and habitat is protected.
• The ban of all shark finning activities, imports and exports in Australian waters and Australian markets, and the actions previously addressed.
• A significant improvement in data collection and communication across all levels and jurisdictions.
• Improved legislature around target shark fishing and shark bycatch, revolving around the precaution principle and keeping sustainability and conservation as the number one priority, which it must be if we are to have any future at all for our shark populations.

Jessica A Gartlan