Pregnant grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus), a species that appears fierce but has a gentle personality, are venturing outside of no-take marine protected areas at night. This puts them in danger of extinction as there are only around 400 breeding individuals remaining in the wild. The findings come from a decade-long study that tracked 34 grey nurse sharks migrating between the Great Barrier Reef and southern New South Wales in Australia. These results indicate that existing conservation efforts are not enough to protect these critically endangered sharks.
Grey nurse sharks, also known as spotted ragged-tooth sharks or sand tiger sharks, are characterized by their protruding mouth and sharp, jagged teeth. Despite this scary appearance, grey nurse sharks have never bitten humans in Australian waters and are not generally considered a threat, except when provoked or cornered. Unfortunately, overfishing, habitat destruction, and an unwarranted reputation for danger have caused the grey nurse population in eastern Australia to decline drastically.
Although conservationists have set up no-take marine protected areas to reduce fishing pressure and raise awareness about the importance of conservation, shark activist Valerie Taylor believes that more action is necessary. The collaborative research, led by researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, supports this viewpoint. The study reveals that migratory sharks often leave no-take marine protected areas, such as Wolf Rock, increasing their chances of becoming bycatch in commercial or recreational fisheries and shark control equipment along beaches.
The scientists found that pregnant female sharks were most likely to spend up to 254 days at Wolf Rock during their gestation, making it a crucial no-take marine protected area for their conservation. However, even with no-take marine protected areas in place, the risk that grey nurse sharks will become bycatch remains high. This is because the species spends more time outside of protected areas than previously thought. Furthermore, the migratory cycle of grey nurse sharks is longer than expected, taking three years to complete before starting the next cycle of breeding. As a result of this slow reproductive rate, it will take time for the population to recover.
The study used the latest animal tracking technology and shark counts by citizen scientists, making it a massive collaborative effort. This approach produced accurate, valuable data and could be applied to other migratory coastal shark species to improve marine area networks for maximum protection. According to Dr. Ross Dwyer, one of the lead researchers, expanding the size of no-take marine protected areas and increasing the number of moorings along the coast could improve the prospects for the grey nurse shark population and safeguard the species from extinction.
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