Management Concern: High   

Adequacy of Information: Low

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• There is limited information on the species composition of shark catches and of the survival success of discarded species resulting in a poor understanding of the ecosystem effects of fishing.
• There is concern about declines in populations of some of the 134 shark and ray species.
• Bycatch in the commercial inshore net fishery includes a number of species of conservation concern that may be killed or injured in the nets, including sharks and sawfish. Mortalities within these species are of particular concern because some populations are already diminished.  
• Illegal fishing is a threat to the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. Incidents detected include incursion of foreign fishing vessels, fishing in zones closed to fishing, and use of fishing equipment or methods in zones where they are not permitted.

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online include:

• Risk assessment of northern Australia sharks and rays
• Reef shark interaction with the reef line fishery
  
• Decline in shark catch in the Queensland shark control program (1962-2001)
• Decline in shark catch in the Queensland shark control program (1992-2005)
  
• Sharks and rays: sustainability of target and bycatch species
• Abundance patterns of predatory fishes
• Shark population density and zoning 
• Reef shark populations in pink and green zones
• Fishing catch from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  
  

Existing policies and management actions

• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
  
• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Position Statement on the conservation and management of sharks and rays in the Queensland East Coast Inshore Finfish Fishery 
• Policy on managing activities that include the direct take of a Protected Species from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  
• Fisheries: legislative management arrangements
• Fisheries: other management tools
• Fisheries: information systems 
• Implementation of WTO conditions and recommendations from the latest EPBC assessment: progress by fishery
• East coast fin fish fishery independent review
• Fish spawning aggregation protection
• Queensland East Coast Inshore Fin Fish Fishery
  
• Queensland Fisheries Strategy 2009-2014
  
• Queensland Fisheries Policies and Legislation
  
• National Shark Recovery Group
  
• Queensland Fisheries monitoring
  
• Queensland Management of Commercial Fisheries
  
• Queensland Management of Recreational Fisheries 
• Shark Plan Implementation Review Committee
  

Future management requirements

• Biodiversity strategy
  
• Development of a GBRMPA position statement on sharks
• Development of Shark-plan II by Shark-plan Implementation Review Committee
  

Defined research questions

Shark and ray biology

• What are the main species of sharks and rays taken in Great Barrier Reef fisheries, and how can these be reliably identified by fishers?
  
• What roles do sharks and rays play in the ecosystem functioning and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef, and what are the ecological consequences of reducing their populations?
• What are the species of chondrichthyan fishes (sharks, rays, skates and chimeras) present in the Great Barrier Reef? What are the current status and trends of these species? What is the distribution and stock structure of these species? What are the life history characteristics and population dynamics of exploited shark and ray populations in the GBR?
• How do changes to environmental conditions (eg. declining water quality, habitat degradation, climate change) affect sharks and rays?

Impacts, sustainability and management

• What is the risk to elasmobranch (sharks and rays) populations taken in commercial mesh net, line and recreational fisheries (including species and quantities taken)?
• What are the key threatening processes, their impacts, and the critical issues for the conservation of threatened elasmobranch species (eg. grey nurse shark, great white shark, whale shark, freshwater sawfish, green sawfish, speartooth) and for other high risk elasmobranch species in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park? How can risks be reduced?
• What impact do human activities (e.g. fishing, tourism) have on sharks and rays in the Great Barrier Reef?
• What historical and baseline information is available about shark and ray populations in the Great Barrier Reef?  How does this compare with the current status?
• What is the abundance of sharks and rays on the Great Barrier Reef?
• What are the movement patterns and habitat use of sharks and rays in the Great Barrier Reef? How do these patterns of movement and habitat use relate to existing and potential management arrangements concerning sharks and rays? How do they inform research on status and abundance of sharks populations?
• What are the sources and current total levels of mortality to shark and ray species in the Great Barrier Reef from natural and anthropogenic sources? What levels of mortality are sustainable?
• What is the species composition of the sharks and rays in commercial and recreational fisheries in the Great Barrier Reef? What are the trends in fishing effort and levels of catch (or interaction rate) of individual shark and ray species these fisheries? What is the fate of sharks and rays caught in these fisheries (retained catch, non-retained by-catch, cryptic mortality)?
• How can the level of mortality be decreased? 

Human dimensions

• What are community attitudes, perceptions and values (e.g. social, economic, cultural, ecological) towards shark and rays, including their use and conservation in the Great Barrier Reef?
• What is the community’s level of awareness of the status and conservation issues relating to sharks and rays in the Great Barrier Reef? 
• What are the current and projected social, economic and cultural factors that influence the take of sharks (e.g. market supply and demand, fear and loathing, competition for fish)?
• What are the relative human values associated with sharks (eg economic value of a live shark to the tourism industry Vs economic value of a dead shark to a fishery)?
• What is the trade of shark products from the Great Barrier Reef, including shark fins,  imports, exports, market factors and domestic consumption?  Illegal fishing, illegal trade, reporting system, management effectiveness for catch reporting and finning?

Fisheries management and compliance

• What are effects of marine park zoning on fish populations and fisheries (e.g. target species, prey species and indicator species)?
• What is the current, overall state of knowledge on the status, management and impacts of fisheries (i.e. synthesis and integration of existing data and information)?

Related information

• Current Research and Monitoring