Briefing

NEWS BRIEFING: Shark numbers dive 92 per cent in the last half a century

Publicly released:
Australia; QLD

Shark populations off the east coast of Australia have been declining over the past 55 years and show little evidence of recovery, according to Australian research, suggesting any increase in attacks is not being driven by greater shark numbers. The researchers analysed the data on hammerhead sharks, whaler sharks, tiger sharks and Great White sharks from the Queensland Shark Control Program over 55 years. They found dramatic declines in shark numbers with drops ranging from 74 per cent for tiger sharks up to 92 per cent for hammerheads and white sharks. The researchers say the most likely reason for the decline is overfishing but that the Queensland Shark Control Program is also likely to have had a localised impact.

Media release

From: Australian Science Media Centre

Speakers:

  • Dr George Roff is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland
  • Dr Christopher Brown is a research fellow at Griffith University

Date: Thurs 13 Dec 2018
Start Time: 10:30am AEDT
Duration: Approx 25 min 
Venue: Online

Multimedia

Hammerhead shark entangled in a net
Hammerhead shark entangled in a net
Shark Numbers Video

Attachments

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Research Springer Nature, Web page Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).
Video Australian Science Media Centre, Web page Link to stream or download the full recording
Other The University of Queensland, Web page Dropbox link to images. Copyright information is included in file name.
Journal/
conference:
Communications Biology
Research:Paper
Organisation/s: The University of Queensland, Griffith University
Funder: C.J.B. was supported by a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE160101207) from the Australian Research Council, M.A.P. was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Use of the Shark Control Program data is by courtesy of the State of Queensland, Australia through the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
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