Conservation group WWF-Australia is buying a Great Barrier Reef shark-fishing licence at a cost of Aus $100,000 (more than £57,000) in a bid to protect the marine-life in the area.
The GBR may be designated a marine park and World Heritage Area, but that doesn’t stop the Queensland government selling licences that allow fishing operators to collect sharks and grey mackerel in nets up to three-quarters of a mile long, and other species on lines. Five of these “N4” licences are currently in operation.
The licence WWF is buying was at one time used to net an average of 10,000 sharks a year, though it has been used only for line-fishing for the past 12 years. However, when the owner decided to put it back on the market, WWF decided to buy and retire it, to ensure that shark-fishing is not resumed. It is now seeking donations to cover the cost of its unusual purchase.
“It’s a new approach to conservation,” said Conservation Director Gilly Llewellyn. “This will save at least 10,000 sharks each year, prevent dugongs, turtles and dolphins being killed as bycatch, and help the reef heal after the worst coral-bleaching in its history.”
Recent figures revealed that the shark catch on the GBR increased by more than 80% year-on-year in 2015 to 402 tonnes, indicating that some 100,000 sharks were taken. “These enormous nets kill tens of thousands of juvenile sharks each year, including hammerheads, which are listed internationally as endangered,” said Llewellyn. “Hammerhead numbers have crashed in Queensland, possibly by 80%.”
Earlier this year, the Australian government opted out of a legally binding international agreement to protect endangered sharks, including two species of hammerheads, opting instead to sign a non-binding agreement.
Shark species are declining around the world because they are slow to mature and produce relatively few offspring, so are very susceptible to fishing pressure, said Llewellyn. Yet a recent study led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science found that sharks play a crucial role in reef health and help coral recover from bleaching.
“After bleaching, algae spreads,” said Llewellyn. “Researchers found that where sharks were removed by overfishing, smaller predators like snapper became more abundant. These snapper kill the algae-eating fish and the algae then overwhelms young coral.”
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