Evidence of deliberate fishing for Grey Nurse
Sharks
These photos were taken on Friday 12th of April at the Pinnacle, Forster NSW.
The photo of the smaller Grey Nurse, about 1.5 metres long shows the head of
a fishing gaff protruding from its mouth.
This Shark was obviously caught by a fisherman who gaffed the Shark to retrieve
their hook but the gaff broke off.
The other photo is a little more distressing. This shows a mature breeding
female approximately 2- 2.5 metres long with a large stainless steel hook in
its mouth, with some of the bait still attached, joined to a wire trace. The
wire trace is attached to a stainless steel “shark clip” and from
the clip is a length of heavy cord of approx 500-600lb breaking strain and on
the end of the cord there was a 500gram lead weight.
This Shark was observed on the 11th of April swimming in a distressed manner
trying to compensate for the extra weight hanging from its mouth and there was
a risk that the lead weight would catch on something, trapping the Shark.
On the following day, 12th of April Ron and myself attempted to remove as much
of the attachments as possible, on seeing the Shark we noticed that the large
lead weight had broken off and on the second attempt we managed to remove the
heavy cord. The clip, wire trace and hook are still in the Shark.
We have noticed over the last month or so an increase in the amount of fishing
attachments in the Sharks, up to 85% of all Sharks observed have some form of
attachments in their mouths.
Several of the Sharks have had large pieces of rope and heavy traces attached
which to the best of our ability we have tried to remove.
Seeing this type of tackle being used seems to indicate that some people are
deliberately targeting Sharks.
The Grey Nurse Shark is critically endangered but people are still allowed to
fish around their habitat and in some cases appear to be deliberately fishing
for them.
The government seems to be stalling for time in declaring protected areas for
the Grey Nurse.
In the mean time careless fishermen are targeting these sharks either deliberately
or inadvertently.
A male Grey Nurse Shark that will never breed again
Photo taken on 5th May 2002 at "The Pinnacle", off Forster.
Grey nurse shark with large hook in left hand side of the jaw. The hook was actually hooked through the top and bottom jaws and it was unlikely that the shark was able to feed. This shark was observed for one week and then disappeared. Image taken at Broughton Island located off Port Stephens NSW in June 2001.
Grey nurse shark with hooks in left hand side of jaw and large wire trace trailing behind. This is common recreational fishing equipment. Image taken at The Pinnacle located of Forster NSW in January 2002.
Juvenile grey nurse shark with three gang hook set up caught in the left hand side of the jaw. This is typical recreational fishing gear. Image taken at the Tollgate Islands off Batemans Bay NSW in December 2001.
Evidence of a wound directly caused by a hook. It is unknown what impact this injury had on the shark as it was only ever been seen once by divers. Image taken at Fish Rock NSW in July 2001.
Juvenile grey nurse shark at Magic Point located off Maroubra with recreational fishing hook in right side of jaw. Image taken at Magic Point NSW in November 2001.
Grey nurse shark with large ‘Gaff’ wound. It appears a fisher has caught the shark and used a gaff hook to land the shark. Image taken at Fish Rock NSW in July 2001.
The grey nurse shark has a hook and line in right part of its jaw, an infection has started to occur in the base of the mouth. Image taken at Green Island at South West Rocks NSW in September 2001.
Grey nurse shark with large hook embedded in left side of jaw. Image taken at Fish Rock NSW in October 2001.
Grey nurse shark with large stainless steel hook and line in left side of jaw, appears to be recreational fishing equipment. Image taken at Seal Rocks NSW, date is unknown.
This grey nurse shark was fortunate to escape the fishers. However, the fishers removed the top fins, the side fins and the bottom of the tail fin before they put the shark back. The shark was observed for 3 weeks swimming around in distress, it was never seen again. Photo taken at the Cod Grounds NSW in 2000.
Two dead grey nurse sharks found at the South West Rocks boat ramp in July 2000. The sharks have had their side fins and top fins removed.
Photograph by Phil Bowman
Phil Bowmwn releasing a Grey Nurse with a large hook in it's mouth. Photograph by Jeff Goedhard.
Shark parts photographed on the bottom at Seal Rock in 1998 following disposal by professional fisherman.
