Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Please find attached the GBRMPA comments on shark-plan 2. Overall we express strong support for the continuation of a national plan of action and support the review process, and have provided some recommendations on ways to improve the plan. We think the key area for improvement in Shark-plan 2 is the actual actions (Table 2) and have made some suggestions in the attached word version of Shark-plan 2 which aim to strengthen the actions.

In reviewing the document we mapped the actions against the priorities identified from SAR2 to identify areas for improvement to deliver desired outcomes / where actions unlikely to be sufficient to address short term priority issues in particular. Given the recognised need for reducing threats and precautionary measures as short term priorities, we've suggested some areas where actions should be strengthened. We've focused on measures that would directly affect outcomes for sharks, i.e. would help meet these conservation outcomes. Some of the actions about information or assessment type activities could also be strengthened from the conservation perspective by including actions to implement relevant measures, rather than just improve information. Again, we've made some suggestions in this regard.

Also, we think there could be better identification of those agencies/jurisdictions which have responsibility for shark conservation and management and their roles. It would be desirable for greater recognition of the range of agencies with responsibility for shark conservation and management (including GBRMPA, state and federal environment and fishery agencies/departments). This may also lead to a greater focus on broader ecosystem considerations in future. The draft plan does include some broader ecosystem considerations, which is good to see (e.g. consideration of effects of shark fishing on non-target species and ecosystem structure and function under issue 15, Table 2).

Once again, thank you for the opportunity to comment on the plan

Cheers. Regards, mark
Mark Read PhD
A/Director
Ecosystem Conservation and Sustainable Use
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority