TL: "SHARKS DOWN UNDER" CONFERENCE TARONGA ZOO, SYDNEY, 24TH FEBRUARY - 1ST MARCH 1991. SO: Peter Gill, Greenpeace Australia (GP) DT: March 1991 Keywords: oceans species conferences australia australasia fisheries deaths facts / SUMMARY: As far as I am aware this was the first major world shark conference. It was a timely meeting: it brought together a number of shark specialists at a time when there is a growing awareness of their vital place in marine ecosystems, but also when sharks are being decimated by human activities. The encouraging thing about the conference was its very strong conservation focus. This wasn't apparent from a preliminary look at the paper titles, but it was surprising fofr everyone how many researchers found something depressing to report. The news about sharks was almost uniformly terrible: nobody reported on flourishing , well- managed stocks. News of the plight of sharks came from a variety of sources: fisheries biologists, environmentalists, fishermen, curators of aquaria, and amateur shark enthusiasts. The picture of sharks which has emerged is one which should have us treating them like marine mammals, rather than typical fish. They are slow-growing, relatively long-lived (some species don't mature until they are 35!), with low fecundity, and are often migratory: in other words, ill-adapted to sustain the sort of intense and unregulated fisheries to which they are currently exposed in most parts of the world. The mortality figure which is being used by one highly regarded shark biologist is 100 million a year! There is a global decline in shark abundance which is reflected in fisheries landings, in numbers of sharks meshed at swimming beaches in Australia and South Africa, and in game fishing tournaments. The organisers and participants used the meeting to present sharks in a more positive light than their traditional monster role, and to a large extent they succeeded. The conference was part of Shark Week, during which a lot of educational events were happening at the zoo. There was also quite a bit of positive media, though many reports, predictably, tended to concentrate on the sensational aspects of shark attack. IUCN SHARK SPECIALIST GROUP: On an optimistic note, a current initiative is the setting up of a Shark Specialist Group, under the guidance of Dr Samuel Gruber, of the University of Miami. He seems to be one of the most active defenders of sharks worldwide, having become committed to shark conservation when a ten-year study of his into Florida lemon sharks had to stop because all his study animals were killed by divers. The Group is in its earliest infancy, and the Conference was used as an opportunity to recruit members. The 3 aims of the Group are: - to assess population status of important stocks worldwide to enable a basis for management; - to create an Action Plan for shark conservation; - to advise on shark conservation. Some issues the Group will address are: - misapplication of finfish models - sport fishing - wasteful harvesting eg "finning" - uncontrolled high-tech fishing eg driftnets - degradation of nursery areas. Participants were asked if they were interested in contributing to the Group. I volunteered the names of Anne Dingwall, James Carr and Rob Galvin as contacts in GPI. SHARK CONSERVATION LEGISLATION - THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: This won't take long. Of approximately 350 species of sharks, ONE species is protected, in one state of one country. The grey nurse, alias sand tiger or raggedtooth, is protected in New South Wales, Australia. This docile animal was killed in its thousands by divers with powerheads in the 60s and 70s. There is no record of an attack on a human, though being a large shark, they are potentially dangerous. The great white shark has recently been placed on the Threatened list in South Australia, though it is still not protected. It is likely that many species of sharks will become severly threatened before they receive any protection. I also heard on the TV news the other night (about 12 April) that South Africa is proposing to protect white sharks in their waters. SHARK FISHERIES - EXAMPLES AND PROBLEMS: MISMANAGED FISHERIES: Australia: The Southern Shark Fishery off southern Australia is a model of a poorly managed shark fishery in a developed country. This is mostly a bottom gillnet fishery, using 15-20 cm mesh for gummy and school sharks. Hooks are also used. It began in the 1920s. A previous annual catch of about 5000 tonnes has now declined to less than 1000 t. In fact the CPUE is down to one-third that of the early 70s. This has happened despite various attempts at management, including closed season, closed areas, minimum length, minimum mesh size, and restriction of effort. This last came in 1988, after the horse had bolted: peak catches occurred in 1968. They are now considering the obvious option of closing the fishery, to allow stocks to recuperate. However, during March 1991 the Federal Department of Primary Industry imposed a catch limit if 800 t. So it looks like the dead horse will take a few more flogs. Many Australian fisheries in recent years have suffered from the Federal government encouraging huge capital expenditure in new fishing technologies, so that now, when a huge reduction in effort is needed, the industry is vastly over- capitalised. Andrew Constable knows a lot about this. Mexico: A different view comes from Mexico, where large numbers of poor fishermen participate in a largely artisanal shark longline fishery, using small boats which stay within 20 miles of shore. The annual take of shark is 30,000 t., fourth in volume after India, Indonesia and Japan. These four take between them more than 150,000 t./year. The Mexican fishery is almost impossible to regulate, as for many fishermen life is a matter of survival, and many villages are rarely visited. Shark is cheap meat, and the only form of protein for many. In a curious twist in this fishery, fins are often discarded and the carcase retained. USA west coast shark fishery: The west coast fishery had mainly been for oil and vitamin A during its peak days in the 1930s. It is now primarily for the fish and chip market, using gill- and driftnets, and one of the main targets is the spiny dogfish (sexually mature at 35 years!), as well as swordfish and halibut. Other species have also become targets of this fishery: - thresher: big peak in 1982, then a decline; open season only in May now. - mako : highly regulated longline fishery now in place, but there is believed to be a huge amateur catch. - angel fish: now in trouble. - leopard shark: landings peaked in 1983; recreational catch is now 6X the commercial catch! BYCATCH: Apart from my talk on driftnet mortality (see enclosed sheets), the only other presentation on shark bycatch concerned the Japanese longline fishery off southern Australia. As with the North Pacific driftnet fishery the blue shark is the main bycatch, with about 34,000 taken annually. These are finned and discarded. Although there is a lack of data, many people I spoke to agreed that bycatch is probably a huge problem worldwide, especially given the problem of finning, which effectively makes the target species bycatch as well. FINNING: The taking of shark fins only has become a huge problem, representing an enormous wastage of protein as carcasses are discarded, often alive. A primary reason for it is that many of the boats involved don't have freezing facilities, and are often fishing far from home. Fins can easily be dried. The irony is that shark fins are only used as a "filler" in soup - they take on the flavour of the soup. Perhaps it's possible to come up with an alternative filler. Finning on a large scale is only a recent problem. In the Cocos Islands off Florida, fishermen started finning hammer- heads 7 years ago. Numbers were so depleted that a shark sanctuary was created, but now fishermen bribe guards, and finning continues - in a sanctuary! SHARKS AND POLLUTION: Significantly, there was only one paper dealing with pollution effects on sharks, and it was far from conclusive. The antiquated sewage system in Sydney pumps primary treated effluent into the ocean from 3 outfalls. The State Fisheries Research Institute has set up a programme to study the effects of pollution on sharks and rays. So far: - there is little known effect of organochlorines on sharks; - research is hampered by the lack of data on shark distribution; - and nothing much else has come out of the programme yet. The issue of sewage pollution from the ocean outfalls has caused a major stink in recent years, including severe embarassment of politicians and senior bureaucrats. Conclusive evidence linking outfalls with pollution with any type of fish is not likely to be welcomed by them. Our Toxics dept has been working on this issue for some time. RECREATIONAL AND GAME FISHING: This became widespread in the 60s and 70s, and a marked decline of both numbers and size of sharks has paralleled it. There is probably a huge undocumented recreational catch in the USA and elsewhere: for example, the recreational catch of leopard sharks on the west coast of the US exceeds the commercial catch sixfold! SHARK ATTACK: A number of papers focused on both protective meshing of beaches, and attack data. The startling figure emerged that for every person bitten by a shark, one MILLION sharks are killed by humans. Other interesting facts: - worldwide, about 70% of victims survive (humans, that is); - unlike the Australians, the South Africans have a tag- release scheme for sharks still alive; - in New South Wales there has been a steady decline in nettings since 1974; - beaches are not entirely netted: several panels are set parallel to the shore, and cover only part of the length of the beach; - in Australia, attacks have decreased dramatically since netting began in the 1930s; - "drumlines", moored floating drums with baited hooks, are used in Queensland. They tend to take tigers, while nets tend to select hammerheads; they have a higher CPUE than nets; - all sharks caught are classified as bycatch, as netting is not a directed fishery; - only 1 in 8 white pointer attacks are fatal; - in Florida, the shark wasn't seen in 67% of cases; - more people are killed by crocodiles than by sharks in Australia, and 3 times many by lightning. In Australia, crocodiles are protected, but most sharks are not. SPECIES ACCOUNTS: Many papers dealt with aspects of the biology of various species of shark. For those interested in physiology, histology etc, have a look through the abstracts. I'll briefly outline some of the more interesting aspects of ecology and behaviour of one species. Some details of the biology of several other species is given in the abstracts. White Sharks: Predictably, and probably to everyone's secret satisfaction, a number dealt with white sharks. I'll bet you all read this bit. Great whites' status is unknown throughout their range. In Australia, and doubtless elsewhere, it's still a macho ritual to go out and catch one. Greg Norman the Australian golfer, whose PR nick-name is "Great White Shark", was obliged by his own hype or ego or both to bag one. Baby seals are sometimes used as bait. The South African government has now decided to protect them, and they are on the threatened species list in South Australia. Although primarily a temperate species, there is a recent record from the Coral Sea. Preferred water temperature seems to be 12-24 C. There is evidence of segregation of the sexes off South Australia. Six to 13 embryos have been found in females. One alarming statistic is that 10% of whites seen near Dangerous Reef in South Australia, which has a reputation as being the most likely place on earth to see them, had hook damage or hooks and traces trailing from their mouths, most likely from tuna longlines. In the South Australian Gulfs, cetaceans predominated in the diet, followed by cephalopods, sharks and rays, and finally by seabirds and pinnipeds. Radio-tracked sharks spent much of their time around reefs and islands, and between 80-90% of their time within 3m of the surface or the bottom. Pinnipeds predominate in the diet of sharks in the open sea off South Australia, which has many seal breeding islands. An explanation was given for the biting strategy of the white shark during an attack. It seems they are very wary of damage to their eyes, as indeed a predator must be. So they move in rapidly, bite once, and withdraw to allow the prey to bleed into a weakened state. This is why humans tend to survive white shark attacks: unlike seals, humans have the ability to help each other in this situation. CONCLUSIONS: The future does not look good for sharks. They are being hammered relentlessly in most parts of the world, and moves to protect them are very slow in coming. This conference was very useful for several reasons: - it brought together what was probably much of the cream of the shark research community; - the single clear message for both the participants and the public was that sharks are in big trouble; - it provided a focus for the initiation of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, which attracted a good deal of interest; - it revealed sharks as extremely interesting animals, which are WORTH SAVING for their own sake, as well as for being a vital component of the marine ecosystem.