Endangered Grey Nurse Sharks

Travis Santa Barbara
Extra Credit Blog
Principles of Ecology

 The article Grey Nurse Shark- 300 left and continuing by Kate Davey is an in depth look into the grey shark and its population decrease during the mid 20th and early 21st century. The grey nurse shark is listed as Critically endangered under Commonwealth legislation. What Davey is trying to explain in this popular article is that these fierce looking fish are actually not a threat to humans and that with the decrease in population mainly due to human interaction; the grey nurse shark could in fact become extinct. Due to that fact that they often resemble a man-eating fish such as a great white or tiger shark, the grey nurse shark is in fact not a man-eater. The grey shark is known to feed on other small fish populations found on the ocean floor. Though because of their image, during the mid 20th century they were commercially hunted to a point where in the early 21st century there were around 500 left on Australia’s east coast.

Now, the grey shark population is continually decreasing mainly due to incidental capturing and fish netting. Also many people illegally hunt these fish for recreational sports. Davey explains that there have been efforts made to help the population survive. Some of these efforts are restrictions on fishing gear and the fining and arresting of any individuals that are found to be hunting these grey sharks. Though with fishing still occurring in the areas in which these fish feed, there will continually be incidental killing and furthering deteriorating of this population. Davey explains that more efforts have been made to help save this once though to be man-eating fish. So due to human disturbance, the marine ecosystem has been altered ultimately tying into what we have talked about in class.

1. Davey, Kate. "Grey Nurse Shark- 300 Left and Counting." Underwater (2003). Web. 22 Apr. 2011. <http://underwater.com.au>.

2. Stow, Adam, Kyall Zenger, David Briscoe, and Michael Gilings. "Isolation and Genetic Diversity of Endangered Grey Nurse Shark Populations." Biology Letters 2.2 (2006): 308-11. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.