Dr Peter Kyne & Prof Andrew Campbell Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods Surveying remote Northern Territory rivers for the Endangered Northern River Shark Glyphis garricki: understanding distribution and population for management EHSE SPG| 14 March 2016 | Slide 1 Northern River Shark Glyphis garricki • Endangered (EPBC Act) • Northern Australia & southern PNG • Described in 2008; n = 8 NT records • “One of the world’s rarest sharks” • NERP research located ~400 individuals including new site records (Sampan Ck, Wildman R, West Alligator R) • Could the distribution be wider than currently known? • What is the population structure & size? AIM: survey remote rivers to document: • Distribution • Population structure (collect tissue samples) Sampling locations Known range of the Northern River Shark Northern River Shark • Samples collected from Daly, Ord, Durack & Pentecost Rivers • Nursery area identified in the Durack River • Population confirmed from the Daly River • Increased known range from 7 to 13 rivers • Sequencing underway for global population structure & population size Does the species still meet the criteria for Endangered? Speartooth Shark • Critically Endangered (EPBC Act) • New population found in the Ord River; first records from WA • Population confirmed in the Daly River • Significant increase in known range New stingrays Hortle’s Whipray Mumbarrar Whipray • First Australian records • New species • Previously only 2 rivers in West Papua • Holotype collected • Daly, Durack & Pentecost Rivers • Ord River, West Arm Publications • Mumbarrar Whipray: a new euryhaline stingray from Australia and Papua New Guinea (Journal: Zootaxa) • First Australian records of Hortle’s Whipray from Australia (Zootaxa) • Cambridge Gulf: a hotspot of threatened euryhaline elasmobranchs in the Kimberley region (Marine Biodiversity Records) • The distribution and occurrence of threatened river sharks in the Northern Territory (Endangered Species Research) • The global population structure and connectivity of the Endangered Northern River Shark (Molecular Ecology) • Assessing the status of ‘rare’ species with and without data: the case of the Northern River Shark (Conservation Biology) Thanks to: Malak Malak Traditional Owners and Ranger Group, NT Fisheries, NAILSMA, WA Fisheries, WA Dept. of Parks and Wildlife, Northbound Charters (Wyndham), Grant Johnson, Christy Davies, Devon DeRaad, Micha Jackson, David Crook, Duncan Buckle and EHSE for the opportunity to undertake this research. www.nespmarine.edu.au.