Australia's need to 'take endangered shark off the menu'
As its government celebrates steps to protect its endangered sharks, Australian conservationists insist that stronger measures are needed still to keep some of the world's rarest and most endangered species of the chip shop menu.
“Most Australians would be appalled to be served up endangered species when they order ‘flake’ off the menu,” Dr Leonardo Guida, a resident shark expert at the Australian Marine Conservation Society says, responding to the Australian Government’s latest report on the recent improvements made to its domestic fisheries management.
“But the reality is, the Australian Government still allows the catch and sale of some of our most endangered shark species from its largest shark fishery. And some of our endangered sharks are still being caught and ending up in your fish and chips.”
It’s the position of the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) that – despite the wins celebrated in the Government’s latest fisheries management report – more has to be done to protect Australia’s endangered sharks and rays, particularly given that two-thirds of its endangered shark species are now at risk of extinction by overfishing.
Released at the tail end of last year, a 2,000-page report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature laid bare, in great detail, the extent of the crises faced by sharks and ray species right now, with one third now listed as ‘endangered’. The report noted that in the 20 years since the IUCN first groundbreaking report on sharks, rays, and chimeras in 2005, demand for shark had doubled from $157 million to $283 million by 2016.
The AMCS in unison with the Humane Society International Australia, argue that while globally, Australia is positioned well when it comes to shark and ray conservation efforts; the bar is very low. They have since called on the government to deliver ‘strong new nature laws’ that will not only protect the environment but the endangered species that live within them.
“Endangered school sharks have been overfished for nearly four years, with total mortality limits exceeding scientifically recommended limits by 14 to 18% each year from 2021 to 2024,” continues Dr Guida.
Among the species most threatened right now, more than 1,500 critically endangered whitefin swellsharks are killed and sold on average each year in Australia. Despite the species considered to be at the brink of extinction, the Australian Government still hasn’t made a decision on whether to add it to its own threatened species list.
At the same time, Australia’s Maugean skate is currently being driven to extinction by the overstocking of salmon in its only home in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.

Lawrence Chlebeck, a marine biologist at Humane Society International Australia, said: “The report is clear and governments around the globe have a responsibility to enact regulation and legislation to ensure we don’t lose these species so vital to ocean health, and Australia is no exception. We are an endemic shark and ray hot-spot, with nearly half of our shark and ray species found nowhere else on Earth. No one can save these species but us.”
The report did go lengths to highlight the bycatch of endangered species in Australia and the need for better monitoring of fishing activity, making the recommendation that fisheries that target sharks or regularly interact with species of conservation interest or concern have meaningful observer coverage, either human or electronic.
It positions that where electronic monitoring does occur, there is a “requirement for a minimum amount of video to be reviewed to allow the accurate estimate of discards.”
The report also strongly suggested that Australia needs a better coordination of its shark research and population studies conducted independent of fisheries.
“There is also a need for improved information on the status of stocks that could be improved by the implementation of long-term fishery-independent surveys,” it said.

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