Designing protected areas for grey nurse sharks off eastern Australia
B. D. Bruce, J. D. Stevens and R. W. Bradford, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart
Report to the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, June 2005
About the report
The east coast population of the grey nurse shark is listed as Critically Endangered. Establishing protected areas around grey nurse shark aggregation sites is thought to be one of the best measures to ensure their survival on the east coast of Australia. However, the effectiveness of protected areas will depend on the amount of time sharks spend at these sites and the extent to which they move outside them during their daily activity patterns. This project provided information on these aspects using active acoustic tracking in conjunction with automated listening station technology to monitor their movements at four key east coast aggregation sites.
This study shows the potential for acoustic monitoring to provide important information on the time spent by grey nurse sharks at aggregation sites, their daily behaviour at these sites and their seasonal movement patterns.