Grey nurse shark conservation

Grey nurse sharks live near the coast in sub-tropical to cool-temperate waters near most continental land masses (not found in the eastern Pacific Ocean off North and South America).

For example, there are few grey nurse sharks found in north Australia while they are relatively abundant in the southern part of the eastern and western Australian waters.

They are generally solitary but at times small schools of grey nurse sharks are found swimming and feeding together.

In 1996 the species was listed globally 'vulnerable' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and declared 'vulnerable' in Commonwealth waters of Australia.

After 20 years of protection the population is still declining and there are approximately 1000-1500 grey nurse sharks left in Eastern Australia.

[citation needed] The grey nurse sharks are particularly vulnerable to these threats due to their late maturation and low breeding success.

They reach sexual maturity at the age of three months and give birth to one or two young every second year; thus, the population grows very slowly.

The increased public awareness has led to the development of methods that reduce the unintentional killing of elasmobranch (sharks and rays), turtles and marine mammals.

Often smaller nets have been shown to catch the same amount of target fish and reduce the by-catch greatly, especially of the mature sharks.

[9] Jervis Bay has been divided into time zones, some for fishing and some for diving, and the strategy has been approved by both fishermen and divers.