Conservation of the Critically Endangered Eastern Australian Population of the Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) Through Cross-Jurisdictional Management of a Network of Marine-Protected Areas

• Published in: Environmental management (New York) 2013-12, Vol.52 (6), p.1341-1354
• Main Authors: Lynch, Tim P., Harcourt, Robert, Edgar, Graham, Barrett, Neville
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agglomeration; Agnatha. Pisces; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Australia; Biological and medical sciences; Carcharias taurus; Coasts; Conservation; Conservation biology; Conservation of Natural Resources - legislation & jurisprudence; Conservation of Natural Resources - methods; Conservation of Natural Resources - statistics & numerical data; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Diving - economics; Diving - statistics & numerical data; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Endangered & extinct species; Endangered populations; Endangered Species; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental protection; Exploitation and management of natural biological resources (hunting, fishing and exploited populations survey, etc.); Fish populations; Fisheries - legislation & jurisprudence; Fisheries - methods; Fishing; Forestry Management; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Government Programs - legislation & jurisprudence; Government Programs - organization & administration; Habitats; Humans; Jurisdiction; Management; Marine; Marine parks; Marine protected areas; Mortality; Nature Conservation; Networks; New South Wales; Nurses; Pacific Ocean; Population; Queensland; Recovery plans; Recreation - economics; Sea water ecosystems; Sharks; Sharks - physiology; Synecology; Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Wildlife management
• ISSN: 0364-152X; 1432-1009
• DOI: 10.1007/s00267-013-0174-x

Between 2001 and 2009, 26 marine-protected areas (MPA) were established on the east Australian seaboard, at least in part, to manage human interactions with a critically endangered population of grey nurse shark, Carcharias taurus. This network is spread across six MPA systems and includes all 19 sites outlined in the National Recovery Plan for C. taurus , though five sites remain open to some forms of fishing. The reserve network has complex cross-jurisdictional management, as the sharks occur in waters controlled by the Australian states of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, as well as by the Commonwealth (Federal) government. Jurisdiction is further complicated by fisheries and conservation departments both engaging in management activities within each state. This has resulted in protected area types that include IUCN category II equivalent zones in NSW, Queensland, and Commonwealth marine parks that either overlay or complement another large scaled network of protected sites called critical habitats . Across the network, seven and eight rule permutations for diving and fishing, respectively, are applied to this population of sharks. Besides sites identified by the recovery plan, additional sites have been protected as part of the general development of MPA networks. A case study at one of these sites, which historically was known to be occupied by C. taurus but had been abandoned, appears to shows re-establishment of an aggregation of juvenile and sub-adult sharks. Concurrent with the re-establishment of the aggregation, a local dive operator increased seasonal dive visitation rates at the site fourfold. As a precautionary measure, protection of abandoned sites, which includes nursery and gestating female habitats are options that may assist recovery of the east coast population of C. taurus .