The Northern River Shark (Glyphis garricki) is one of the rarest species of shark in the world. It is known only from a small number of locations in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Papua…
The demand for shark fins has pushed threatened shark species from 15 in 1996 to 180 in 2010.
Choo Yut Shing
Each year around 100 million sharks are killed for their fins. The sharks are often pulled from the water, their fins are sliced off and they are thrown back in to drown. The industry is built on the high…
Pre-emptively emptying beaches when sharks are around can save lives, but there are other ways of preventing bites.
Caroline Embrey
Things could not be harder for the beach-goers of Western Australia. Following the worst spate of shark-related fatalities ever recorded, it is summer once again. Shark sightings are up and there is always…
Shark fins are a delicacy in Asia, which can sometimes lead to unsustainable fishing practices.
mario ruckh/Flickr
Whether it’s from fishing and by-catch, finning or even culling, global shark populations are under a growing threat from human activity. But how successful is international law at protecting some of the…
Public attitudes are shifting against government shark culling programs.
Athel D'Ombrain Collection, University of Newcastle
The great shark debate continues in Australia as summer approaches. Shark bites on bathers and surfers are a particularly sensitive reality. These are personal and community-wide tragedies that implore…
There are a lot of positives in the WA Government’s plan to keep beaches safe – but why cull sharks?
platours/flickr
The WA Premier Colin Barnett and Fisheries Minister Norman Moore recently announced the Government will allocate $6.85-million for its “shark mitigation” strategy, in response to the recent wave of sharks…
New research could help prevent negative encounters between “us” and “them”.
Richard Ling
By Wayne Davies, University of Western Australia and Nathan Hart, University of Western Australia
We’ve known since early last year that sharks are most likely colour-blind. But today, in a paper published in Biology Letters by our team at UWA, we explain why this is the case.
It’s a finding we believe…
There is no evidence that hunting and killing sharks reduces attacks on humans.
US Fish and Wildlife Service
The most recent fatal encounter between a shark and a surfer off the coast of Western Australia is a tragic loss of human life. It prompted a Western Australian government reaction to “hunt and kill” the…
Australia has signed up to three international agreements to outlaw shark finning, but sharks still wash up minus fins.
Alex Hofford/EPA
Another critically endangered grey nurse shark has washed up on a northern NSW beach, with its fins removed. Shark fins are valued at more than A$400 per kilogram. This high market value encourages the…
A Great White shark like the one suspected of fatally attacking WA surfer Ben Linden.
Wikicommons
The latest fatal shark bite on a surfer, north of Perth, is another in a string of terrible and random tragedies that have befallen Western Australia in the past two years.
This seems to be an escalating…
Why has Paul Watson suddenly been picked up in Germany on a Costa Rican charge?
Kay Nietfeld/EPA
Captain Paul Watson, founder of the marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd, was arrested last week in Frankfurt, Germany, on an international arrest warrant issued by the Costa Rican government…
Scientists are clear that tuna catch needs to be cut, but figuring out who will fish less and where is much trickier.
AAP
The eighth meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission concluded in Guam on Friday 30 March 2012. Five hundred delegates from more than 40 countries argued for a week about how to reduce…
A WA police officer holds a surfboard recovered after a fatal attack on a man at Gracetown beach last year.
AAP/Mogens Johansen
It is received wisdom that many shark attacks take place because the ocean predators “mistake” surfers for seals.
But this assumption does not recognise what quick and efficient predators they are. The…
A White Shark feeds on a whale carcass off a Perth metropolitan beach in 2009. This was happening before Homo Sapiens existed.
AAP/Channel10
The vast majority of Australians live in coastal cities. This means most of us have sharks as neighbours.
Living alongside sharks in metropolitan cities in Australia requires urban resilience. Unlike…
Western Australia’s new dedication to shark research is good news for sharks, and for beachgoers.
autumn_leaf
Public concern following the recent wave of shark attacks in WA
initially prompted the government to respond with suggestions of a shark cull to reduce numbers in a misguided attempt to improve public…
With a bit of public education, more people will learn when swimming should be avoided.
EPA/Nic Bothma
Three recent shark attacks in Western Australian waters have led some politicians in WA to request the culling of the sharks involved, and the increase of fisheries quotas for sharks.
What no politician…
Culling sharks is unlikely to make our beaches safer.
Hermanus Backpackers
In Western Australia, politicians and members of the public are calling for a shark cull in response to the state’s recent shark attack fatalities.
The most recent of these attacks was on a diver off…
Shark nets have been proven to hurt sharks, but does that help humans?
AAP
Western Australia’s Cottesloe Beach has been closed due to concerns a swimmer there was taken by a great white shark.
The public is understandably worried, but the local mayor says no shark nets will…
