| Quota Sustainable Shark

FACT 2. Sharks caught in Australian waters by Australian licensed fishermen are from ecologically sustainable fisheries. 

Research in the past decade (funded by government and industry) has provided detailed information about shark habitat and sustainable harvest rates.

Maintaining healthy shark stocks is not only ecologically important but it makes economic sense. Millions of dollars are invested every year by commercial shark fishing operators to pay for quota, vessels, licences, crew and other resources necessary to sustain their fishing operations.

Australian shark fishermen are committed to a sustainable future for their fishery. Their livelihoods depend on the resource continuing to be in plentiful supply in future. Australian shark fishers pay significant amounts for the right to fish in designated and monitored fisheries in both temperate and tropical waters. Their future relies on the sustainability and accessibility of the shark population.

Fishermen depend on the advice of officials to determine fishing methods and quotas. In the past, governments have not always got it right. Fishermen should not be penalised or vilified for past mistakes by regulators.

Extreme conservationists claim 90 per cent of the world’s shark population is gone. There is no scientific data to support such a claim.

What we do know is about 50 per cent of the world’s marine sanctuaries are located in Australian waters. Protected areas are often located adjacent to fishery waters, allowing fish to move freely between the two.

Extremist propaganda would have us believe greedy fishermen are catching the last few sharks left in the sea. Nothing could be further from the truth.