Conservationist WWF buys shark fishing licence on Great Barrier Reef to protect sharks

Sydney July 13:A conservation group has taken the unusual step of buying a commercial shark fishing licence on the Great Barrier Reef, and will retire it, saving the sharks that it would otherwise be used to catch.

WWF said it was now seeking funds to cover the cost of the $100,000 licence, which gives the owner the right to drag a 1.2km net anywhere along the length of the Great Barrier Reef, targeting sharks.

It can also be used for fishing with lines to target other species.

Australia has been reluctant to protect endangered sharks from fishing

WWF said the licence was used to target sharks for 10 years until 2004, when it caught about 10,000 sharks each year.

The move comes as Queensland government figures show shark catches on the Great Barrier Reef almost doubled between 2014 and 2015: from 222 tonnes to 402 tonnes – about 100,000 sharks that year.

WWF-Australia’s conservation director, Gilly Llewellyn, said protecting apex predators such as sharks was particularly important after the unprecedented bleaching event that devastated the Great Barrier Reef this year.

A 2013 study showed that removing sharks from coral reefs disrupted the ecosystem, making it harder for reefs to recover.

“These enormous nets kill tens of thousands of juvenile sharks each year, including hammerheads which are listed internationally as endangered,”

Llewellyn said. “Hammerhead numbers have crashed in Queensland, possibly by 80%.”

Besides catching the target species, these long nets catch almost anything they pass over, Llewellyn said. That includes dugongs, dolphins and turtles.