Protected Species Group Report Cards Appendix D North-west Marine Region Protected Species Group Report Cards These report cards summarse nformaton on those D1 North-west Marine Region speces that occur n the North-west Marne Regon Protected Species Group Report and are protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The report Card – Sharks cards present relevant nformaton on speces groups and Current at May 2008. See are desgned to be updated as new nformaton becomes <www.envronment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/north-west> for avalable. The report cards n ths appendx are current at updates. May 2008. Updates of the report cards wll be avalable at <www.envronment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/north-west>. General information Protected speces occurrng n the North-west Marne Sharks belong to the taxonomc class Chondrchthyes, Regon for whch speces group report cards have been whch are also known as the cartlagnous fish. As ths compled nclude: name suggests, sharks do not have bones, and nstead ther skeletons are composed of cartlage. Sharks fall D1 Sharks wthn the subclass Elasmobranch, whch are typfied by cylndrcal, sometmes flattened body forms, and have D2 Bony fish (ncludng seahorses, ppehorses, ppefish between five and seven gll openngs. and ghost ppefish) The dstrbuton of sharks s hghly vared, and they are D3 Reptles – sea snakes found n a wde range of habtats rangng from shallow to deep water, n oceanc, reef, coastal, estuarne and D4 Reptles – marne turtles freshwater envronments. Sharks can be pelagc (n the upper part of the water column or the open ocean) or D5 Brds (seabrds and shorebrds) demersal (lvng on or near the seafloor). D6 Mammals – dugongs The North-west Marne Regon has a rch shark fauna D7 Mammals – cetaceans owng to the dversty of marne envronments found across ts waters. Of the 500 shark speces found worldwde, 94 are found n the Regon – 19 per cent of the world’s shark speces. A more detaled overvew of the chondrchthyan speces group n the North-west Marne Regon can be found n Heupel & McAuley (2007). Ths report s avalable at <www.envronment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/north-west>. Grey reef shark. Photo: Photolbrary. 213 Table D11 Sharks listed as threatened or migratory under the EPBC Act that are known to occur in the North-west Marine Region Species Conservation Status Conservation Plans and Policies Whale shark Vulnerable, Mgratory • Recovery Plan for the Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharas taurus) in (Rhincodon typus) Lsted under CITES (Appendx II) Australia (EA 2002a) & CMS (Appendx I & II) • White shark (Carcharodon carcharas) Recovery Plan (EA 2002b) Grey nurse shark (Carcharias Vulnerable taurus) – west coast populaton Lsted under CITES (Appendx II) • National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (DAFF 2004) White shark (Carcharodon Vulnerable, Mgratory • Whale shark (Rhncodon typus) Recovery Plan 2000–2010 carcharias) Lsted under CITES (Appendx II) (DEH 2005) & CMS (Appendx I and II) Green sawfish Vulnerable (Pristis zijsron) Lsted under CITES (Appendx I) Nationally protected species have a wder temperature range and may move nto tropcal waters, and pass through the waters off oceanc Four shark speces found n the Regon are lsted under slands (EA 2002b). Recent taggng studes recorded a the EPBC Act (Table D1.1). All these speces are also female whte shark travellng across the Indan Ocean, lsted under nternatonal nstruments. Recovery Plans from South Afrca to waters off Exmouth and back n are n place for each of these speces and can be found under 9 months - the fastest trans-oceanc mgraton at <www.envronment.gov.au/coasts/speces/sharks>. recorded among marne fauna (Bonfilet al. 2005). As a sgnatory to the Convention on the Conservation of Whte sharks attan a maxmum sze of up to 6 m and Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), Australa has an males and females reach sexual maturty at 350 cm nternatonal oblgaton to protect mgratory speces, and 400 cm, respectvely. Lke most other sharks, they ther habtats and ther mgraton routes. Smlarly, are ovphagous. Ovphagous anmals hatch from eggs, as a party to the Convention on the International Trade in but the eggs hatch and the young develop nsde the Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Australa female’s body. There s no placenta to noursh the has agreed to control the mport and export of an pups. Instead,the pups are cannbalstc; eatng any agreed lst of speces that are endangered, or at rsk of unfertlzed eggs and ther sblngs. Very few pups n becomng endangered because of nadequate controls a ltter survve to brth. Whte sharks have between over trade n them or ther products. In June 2007, sx two and ten young per ltter, of 130 cm length (Last & of the seven speces of sawfish (famly Prstdae) were Stevens 1994). They prmarly feed on teleosts (bony lsted under Appendx I of CITES. The excepton was fish) and other sharks, but adults also feed on marne the freshwater sawfish Pristis microdon, whch was lsted mammals, such as pnnpeds and whales. They have few The North-west Marine Bioregional Plan: Bioregional Profile under Appendx II of CITES allowng nternatonal trade natural predators and do not feed contnuously; a large n lve anmals to approprate and acceptable aquara, meal (such as a seal) may last a medum-szed shark for prmarly for conservaton purposes. Further nformaton up to a week (EA 2002b). on CITES and CMS s ncluded n Appendx A. Few regons of the world support large whte shark Ecology of protected species in the North-west populatons wthout a correspondng pnnped (sea lon Marine Region and seal) populaton (EA 2002b). There are no known White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are found n pnnped stes n the Regon and no major whte shark temperate and subtropcal waters across the world. In populatons have been recorded n the Regon. However, Australan waters, ther range extends from southern whte sharks spend much of ther lfe n pelagc areas Queensland around the southern Australan coast to away from seal colones, and also feed on a varety of North West Cape. They generally nhabt coastal and pelagc speces (Boustany et al. 2002). contnental shelf waters to 100 m depth. Grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus) are found n In the North-west Marne Regon they are occasonally subtropcal to cool temperate nshore waters around found n waters south of Exmouth, and are rarely found the much of world, except the western Pacfic (Last & n tropcal waters. Non-breedng whte sharks tend to Stevens 1994). In Australan waters, they are regularly 214 Protected Species Group Report Cards sghted from southern Queensland to the New South In oceanc waters, they routnely move between the Wales/Vctoran border, and from Esperance n southern sea surface and depth, and spend over half ther tme Western Australa north to Shark Bay and North West at depths greater than 30 m. Off the outer North West Cape (EA 2002a). Shelf, they spend much of ther tme swmmng near the seafloor, and make dves to over 1000 m depth. They are Thus, grey nurse sharks are thought to form two dstnct able to tolerate the colder temperatures (to 5°C) found populatons n Australan waters: an east coast and a at these depths, possbly because of the nsulaton west coast populaton wth a strong genetc dfference provded by ther large body mass (Wlson et al. 2006). between the two populatons (Stow et al. 2006). These These dves nto deeper oceanc waters are thought to populatons are lsted separately under the EPBC Act: be prmarly n search of prey such as krll, lantern fish, the west coast populaton s lsted as vulnerable and the squd and jellyfish around the deep scatterng layer east coast populaton as crtcally endangered. (Wlson et al. 2006). The range of grey nurse sharks spans the whole Regon, Whale sharks are hghly mgratory; ther longer-term but they have rarely been found north of Shark Bay (EA movements are uncertan, but are lkely to nclude 2002a). An aggregaton has recently been dscovered Indonesan and other South–East Asan waters. There at Broome, whch represents a sgnficant extenson to s evdence of substantal gene flow among populatons ther range (R. McAuley, pers. comm. 2007). Grey nurse of whale sharks, ndcatng they make broad-scale sharks generally nhabt waters between the surf zone movements and have a hgh connectvty among and the outer contnental shelf to 190 m water depth. populatons (Bradshaw 2007). Ther movements are The det of grey nurse sharks s smlar to other sharks, thought to be related to changes n local bologcal and conssts of teleost (bony) fish and other sharks. productvty, and they are often assocated wth schools of pelagc fish. After leavng Nngaloo, most whale sharks Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are found n tropcal probably travel north-east along the contnental shelf, and warm temperate seas across the world (Last & before movng offshore nto the north-eastern Indan Stevens 1994; Stewart & Wlson 2005). In Australa Ocean, around the Damper Terrace and Argo Abyssal they have been reported from waters off the Northern Plan (Wlson et al. 2006). Whale sharks have also been Terrtory, Queensland and northern Western Australa, recorded movng further north-east toward Scott Reef but they are prmarly found n seasonal aggregatons and Ashmore Reef (Wlson et al. 2006). around Nngaloo Reef, between March and June. They have also been reported from oceanc and coastal waters Green sawfish (Pristis zijsron) are found mostly n across the Regon (Wlson et al. 2006). tropcal and subtropcal waters, north of Shark Bay across northern Australan waters to Carns. In terms of The whale shark s the largest lvng fish, wth the largest ther wder dstrbuton, they are found n the northern measurng just over 12 m (Stevens 2007).