The number of grey nurse sharks around the world has declined, in Australia they are now classified as Critically Endangered. Associate Professor Corey Bradshaw, from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute, was invited by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts to attend a forum held at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science on the 27th of November to help develop a new five-year action plan to help ensure the future of the grey nurse shark.
A worldwide decline in shark populations has major consequences for the marine ecosystem. Large predators have a top-down control of other marine species, so their survival and abundance is vital to the health of the entire system. Although no shark species have been recorded to go extinct since human records began, the grey nurse shark population on the eastern coast of Australia is in a precarious position due to previous over-exploitation and now, accidental deaths.
Read Corey’s blog Conservation Bytes.
