Collaborative photo-identification and monitoring of grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus) at key aggregation sites along the eastern coast of Australia

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean M. Barker ◽  
Jane E. Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Rigorous Evaluation ◽  
Photo Identification ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Database Research ◽  
Migratory Patterns ◽  
Underwater Camera ◽  
Local Research ◽  
Carcharias Taurus

Before the worldwide decline of the ‘globally vulnerable’ Carcharias taurus may be addressed, an understanding of its migratory patterns and locations, and/or times when sharks may be vulnerable, is required to identify habitats that are critical to its survival. A collaborative framework for photo-identification and monitoring of C. taurus may greatly assist with conservation management initiatives. Images of C. taurus were sourced from public submissions to the www.spotashark.com (verified 12 February 2009) website and during targeted surveys. A computer-assisted program (I3S) was used to match the images of sharks photographically from the database. Research revealed patterns of movement, site utilisation and population structure similar to those in previous tagging studies. With the use of an underwater camera and two laser-scaling devices, 408 individual sharks were identified. Average occupancy times at two locations in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were 308 days (Fish Rock) and 363 days (Magic Point). Seventeen individuals undertook northward or southward movements, averaging 350 km. The present study showed that a broad-based technique for data acquisition, coupled with rigorous evaluation of photographic identifications can provide support for local research and management programs and may aid with the conservation of the C. taurus species worldwide.

scholarly journals Sex- and maturity-based differences in movement and migration patterns of grey nurse shark, Carcharias taurus, along the eastern coast of Australia

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 596 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. S. Bansemer ◽  
M. B. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Early Summer ◽  
Late Spring ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Early Winter ◽  
Nurse Shark ◽  
Migration Patterns ◽  
Photo Identification ◽  
Carcharias Taurus

Photo-identification techniques were used to investigate temporal and spatial distributions of Carcharias taurus (Rafinesque, 1810) in relation to maturity, sex and pregnancy status at 19 sites along Australia’s eastern coastline. Of 931 individual sharks identified between 2004 and 2008, 479 were female (271 mature, 208 immature) and 452 male (288 mature, 164 immature). Mature, non-gravid females and mature males were mostly observed in the southern to central parts of this species range, along the eastern coast of Australia, in early summer to early winter. These sharks subsequently moved northward, and mating occurred in late spring to early summer in waters off the coast of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. Pregnant C. taurus aggregated at Wolf Rock in southern Queensland, at the most northerly part of their known range, from late summer to early winter. These sharks subsequently migrated south to pup in central and southern waters of their range in late winter to late spring. Immature sharks of both sexes moved less than mature sharks, showed no synchronised migration patterns, and were mostly restricted to central and southern waters. The improved understanding of sex- and maturity-based migration of C. taurus provided here should facilitate a conservation strategy appropriate for this species in Australian waters.

scholarly journals Retained fishing gear and associated injuries in the east Australian grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus): implications for population recovery

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 97 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. S. Bansemer ◽  
M. B. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
East Coast ◽  
New South ◽  
Fishing Gear ◽  
Population Recovery ◽  
Photo Identification ◽  
South Wales ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Identification Techniques ◽  
Carcharias Taurus

Incidental hooking of Carcharias taurus is a threat to their populations’ recovery on the east coast of Australia. Photo-identification techniques were used to investigate the frequency of hooking at 25 aggregation sites along the east coast of Australia between 2006 and 2008. Of the 673 sharks identified, 113 sharks were identified with signs of 119 incidences of hooking. For sharks with both their left and right flank photographed during a single survey day, up to 29% of females and 52% of males were identified with retained fishing gear or an attributed jaw injury. The largest number of sharks identified (222) were from a year-round aggregation of immature and mature sharks at Fish Rock, New South Wales, Australia. Forty-eight per cent of all sharks identified with retained fishing gear were first identified at this site. Fish Rock, a designated critical habitat for C. taurus, allows most forms of line fishing except fishing with bait or wire trace while anchored or moored. As interactions with fishing gear can result in debilitating disease, morbidity and death, the high incidence of hooked individual C. taurus is considered a key threatening process that is likely to reduce this shark population’s ability to recover.

Computer-assisted photo-identification of individual marine vertebrates: a multi-species system

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. Hillman ◽  
B. Würsig ◽  
G. A. Gailey ◽  
N. Kehtarnavaz ◽  
A. Drobyshevsky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Photo Identification ◽  
Marine Vertebrates

scholarly journals Dust Transport from Inland Australia and Its Impact on Air Quality and Health on the Eastern Coast of Australia during the February 2019 Dust Storm

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Emilie Aragnou ◽  
Sean Watt ◽  
Hiep Nguyen Duc ◽  
Cassandra Cheeseman ◽  
Matthew Riley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Dust Storm ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
The State ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Storm Event ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Dust Storm Event

Dust storms originating from Central Australia and western New South Wales frequently cause high particle concentrations at many sites across New South Wales, both inland and along the coast. This study focussed on a dust storm event in February 2019 which affected air quality across the state as detected at many ambient monitoring stations in the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) air quality monitoring network. The WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecast Model—Chemistry) model is used to study the formation, dispersion and transport of dust across the state of New South Wales (NSW, Australia). Wildfires also happened in northern NSW at the same time of the dust storm in February 2019, and their emissions are taken into account in the WRF-Chem model by using Fire Inventory from NCAR (FINN) as emission input. The model performance is evaluated and is shown to predict fairly accurate the PM2.5 and PM10 concentration as compared to observation. The predicted PM2.5 concentration over New South Wales during 5 days from 11 to 15 February 2019 is then used to estimate the impact of the February 2019 dust storm event on three health endpoints, namely mortality, respiratory and cardiac disease hospitalisation rates. The results show that even though as the daily average of PM2.5 over some parts of the state, especially in western and north western NSW near the centre of the dust storm and wild fires, are very high (over 900 µg/m3), the population exposure is low due to the sparse population. Generally, the health impact is similar in order of magnitude to that caused by biomass burning events from wildfires or from hazardous reduction burnings (HRBs) near populous centres such as in Sydney in May 2016. One notable difference is the higher respiratory disease hospitalisation for this dust event (161) compared to the fire event (24).

Wundacaenis, a new genus of Caenidae (Insecta : Ephemeroptera) from Australia

1993 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 787 ◽  
Author(s):  
PJ Suter
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
New Genus ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Three New Species

A new genus, Wundacaenis, is erected for three new species of Australian caenid mayflies. The genus is diagnosed by possession of distinctive lobes on the anterolateral margins of the mesonotum. The distribution of Wundacaenis extends from the Kimberleys in Western Australia, through the Alligator Rivers Region in the Northern Territory, and down the eastern coast to the Shoalhaven River in New South Wales.

Four new species of Actaeciidae (Isopoda : Oniscidea) from Australia, with a review of the family

1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 1421 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Lewis ◽  
AJA Green
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
New South ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Key To Species ◽  
Australian Species ◽  
Lord Howe Island ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The Family ◽  
New Diagnosis

Four new species of Actaecia Dana are described from Australia; three of these (A. bipleura, A. cyphotelson and A. nasuta) are from beaches in south-eastem Australia and one (A. forrnida) is from the mid-eastern coast of Queensland. Specimens from Tasmania identified previously as Actaecia pallida Nicholls & Barnes belong to A. bipleura. The same probably applies to others from New South Wales and Lord Howe Island. The distributions of the six Australian species are noted. A review of the monogeneric family Actaeciidae includes a new diagnosis of Actaecia and a key to species. The distributions of the two New Zealand species are listed.

Sessile biofouling on tags from recaptured raggedtooth sharks (Carcharias taurus) and their effects on tagging studies

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 359 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. Dicken ◽  
S. Parker Nance ◽  
M. J. Smale
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Calcium Carbonate ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Taxonomic Group ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Wet Weight ◽  
Inherent Problem ◽  
Fish Tagging ◽  
Sessile Organisms ◽  
Carcharias Taurus

Biofouling of external tags can damage both the animal and the tag. It is an inherent problem to many fish-tagging studies; however, it has received little attention. Between 2005 and 2007, we investigated the taxonomic group and wet weight of sessile multicellular eukaryonts growing on 33 B-type dart tags recaptured from raggedtooth sharks (Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1810) along the eastern coast of South Africa. All tags, except one from a shark that had been at liberty only for 13 days, contained some degree of macro-fouling that ranged from 0.031 to 7.687 g wet weight. Barnacles and hydroids were the first colonisers and were recorded on tags after only 47 days. Bivalves, polychaetes and algae succeeded within 60 days. The last two taxa to be recorded were ascidians and sponges. There was no significant relationship between either the biomass of sessile organisms (P = 0.17) or the number of taxa (P = 0.59) found growing on tags and their time at liberty. Calcium carbonate plugs, ranging in weight from 0.16 to 9.18 g, were found at the site of the tag insertion wound on 27.3% of recaptures. The present study highlights the extent of biofouling growth on tags and its potential to bias results from tagging studies.

Distribution of Tailor (Pomatomus saltatrix) Larvae along the Coast of New South Wales, Australia

1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 331 ◽  
Author(s):  
AG Miskiewicz ◽  
BD Bruce ◽  
P Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Coastal Waters ◽  
East Coast ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Pomatomus Saltatrix ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Survey Period ◽  
South Wales

The distribution of tailor (Pomatomus saltatrix) larvae is described on the basis of the results of four plankton surveys undertaken in northern and central New South Wales (NSW) coastal waters. These comprised a single survey during May 1989 along the northern NSW coast and multiple surveys in January, March and May 1983 between Sydney and Brisbane. Pomatomus saltatrix larvae occurred throughout the survey period, with the highest abundances on the northern NSW coast. Most larvae were caught in mid and outer continental shelf waters at water temperatures of ≥22�C. The only known spawning locality for P. saltatrix is in the vicinity of Fraser Island in southern Queensland from August to October. The occurrence of larvae along the NSW coast from January to May indicates that the spawning season of P. saltatrix is more extensive than previously reported and that spawning occurs along the east coast of Australia in localities other than Fraser Island. Further surveys of larvae in southern Queensland and northern NSW waters, especially from August to December, are required to determine if P. saltatrix has one extended or two discrete spawning seasons along the eastern coast of Australia.

Geographic variation in the snail Velacumantus (Gastropoda : Potamididae)

1967 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1163 ◽  
Author(s):  
WH Ewers
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Geographic Variation ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Swan River ◽  
Morph Frequency ◽  
Lake Illawarra

A morph-frequency cline and a size cline are described for the snail Velacumantus australis. The frequency of a white-banded form decreases clinally with latitude South. Living populations from Queensland and northern New South Wales have frequencies between 7 and 18% whereas all populations from southern New South Wales and eastern Victoria, except those from Lake Illawarra, have frequencies between 2 and 5%. The frequency in Port Phillip Bay is less than 0.1%. The frequency in a sample from Swan River, Western Australia, was 9.1% about the same as in samples from localities of the same latitude on the eastern coast of Australia. The frequency in most fossil samples was similar to that in nearby living populations. The mean length of populations from the eastern states increases clinally with increase in latitude South, although there are some irregular fluctuations between adjacent populations which are probably influenced by population density.

The herpetofauna of Kioloa, New South Wales: baseline observational data collected 30 years ago and inspired by R. E. Barwick

2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Henle ◽  
Will Osborne ◽  
Frank Lemckert
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Field Station ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Anthropogenic Habitat ◽  
Reptile Species ◽  
Frog Species

There is increasing concern about the global decline of amphibians and reptiles. One problem with documenting declines and identifying underlying causes is the absence of historical data to compare to current data. Here we provide historic data for Kioloa on the south-eastern coast of New South Wales. In this region considerable clearing of natural forest and woodland and creation of farmland ponds took place during the second half of the 20th century. The Australian National University has a field station at Kioloa and R.E. Barwick introduced us to the field station and what was known of the herpetofauna in the mid-1980s. We undertook detailed observational surveys of the herpetofauna at this time and we revisited the area at other times, focusing on the coastal habitats. We found 13 species of frogs and 11 species of reptiles. Three further frog species and one reptile species known to occur in the area in the 1980s were not detected by us. More recently, one further frog species and six reptile species were added to the list, raising the total to 17 frog and 18 reptile species. The number and composition was similar to other locations of coastal New South Wales, except for some of the rarely encountered species. No strictly forest-dependent species were observed in the partially cleared survey area and such species presumably had already disappeared from these areas already before we commenced our observations. The frog Pseudophryne bibronii was still common in tall open-forest but was uncommon in partially cleared areas. Six species of frogs and one species of reptile presumably benefited from the anthropogenic habitat modifications. No declines of common species of reptiles occurred between the mid-1980s and 1993 but all species of frogs were very rare in 1993 due to very dry conditions. Litoria aurea, a threatened species of frog that was widespread in the mid-1980s, survives (2012) only at one site in the area.

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