Understanding the factors influencing shark depredation in Western Australia’s Mackerel Managed Fishery
Shark depredation, where a fishing catch is partially or completely consumed by a shark before it can be retrieved by the fisher, occurs in commercial and recreational fisheries globally. This behaviour can cause significant financial losses to the fisher through lost fish and damaged equipment, whilst also resulting in increased mortality of fish stocks and injury to sharks from fishing gear. Currently, there is a lack of information regarding the frequency of depredation especially across large spatial and temporal scales, as well as how this behaviour may be affected by a range of environmental and fishing related factors. To better understand these factors, this study will analyse several years of fishery dependent commercial logbook data collected from 2006 to the present for the Mackerel Managed Fishery. The study will be carried out in collaboration with the Fisheries division of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Understanding the level of influence different factors have on shark depredation within the MMF will not only help inform future management decisions for this fishery but also broaden the general knowledge of this behaviour across the scientific community.
About me
I’m Perth born and bred and have been in and around the ocean my whole life. Growing up most most of our family holidays revolved around marine activities such as snorkelling, fishing or boating which, along with living close to the coast in Perth have helped me develop a strong passion for the marine environment. I graduated from UWA in 2016 with a Bachelor of Biological Science, majoring in Marine Science and Conservation Biology. After traveling for a year, I returned to UWA to complete my Masters.
Supervisors
Dr. Tim Langlois, Dr Dianne McLean, Jonathan Mitchell, and Dr Gary Jackson
Contact
Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre
School of Biological Sciences (M470)
35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009</p>
