Oral Presentation Australian Society for Fish Biology Conference 2025

Lord Howe Island shark research program: towards a conceptual framework to manage human-shark interactions (124939)

Jonathan D. Mitchell 1 2 , Victoria Camilieri-Asch 1 2 3 , Fabrice R. A. Jaine 4 5 , Charlie Huveneers 6 , Sallyann Gudge 7 , Victor Peddemors 8 , Tim Langlois 9
  1. Shark Ethology Australia (SEA) | Consulting, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  2. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Oceans Institute, Perth, WA, Australia
  3. Max Planck Queensland Centre, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  4. Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), Battery Point, TAS, Australia
  5. Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  6. Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  7. Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Parks and Wildlife, Exmouth, WA, Australia
  8. New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Fisheries, Mosman, NSW, Australia
  9. The University of Western Australia Oceans Institute, Perth, WA, Australia

Background/Aims

The marine parks surrounding World Heritage Listed Lord Howe Island support an abundance of marine life, including the world’s most southerly coral reef and healthy populations of many teleost fish and shark species. The Galapagos shark (Carcharhinus galapagensis) is the most common shark species found at Lord Howe Island; however, they regularly interact with fishing vessels, leading to shark bycatch (where sharks take the bait as non-targeted catch) and depredation (where sharks take fish off the hooks). These interactions have negative impacts on fishers due to lost catch and fishing gear, and on sharks due to injuries sustained from bycatch and retaliatory actions from fishers. This poses a threat to a range of social, economic, and environmental values for the marine parks.

Methods/Results

An ongoing program running since 2018 aims to improve understanding of shark interactions at this location and develop solutions to mitigate them. This program is using a holistic approach combining acoustic telemetry and vessel tracking to assess overlap between fishing effort and shark movements; social surveys to investigate community perceptions towards sharks and gain local knowledge; baited video surveys to quantify shark abundance in fished and non-fished areas; a gamefish tagging program to estimate shark re-capture rates and movements; fishery logbook reports to quantify depredation rates and financial loss for fishers (gear and catch); and a citizen science project applying photo ID from local dive operators. Genetic analysis is being conducted to assess population size and structure, as well as connectivity across the southwest Pacific, using Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms.

Here, we present collated data that will be combined into a conceptual framework, based on a mathematical modelling integrating the different ecological, social and economic aspects, to identify optimal management strategies that promote co-existence and benefit the local community and the local shark population

Conclusion

A co-designed, integrated approach was essential to encompass all aspects of this multifaceted human-wildlife conflict at Lord howe Island and will ultimately help to develop the necessary framework to facilitate decision-making processes. More broadly, we hope to create a tool for management that can be tailored to other locations and sectors.