REPORTS

In the 20 years since the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group’s first status report (2005), much has changed for sharks, rays and chimaeras. This report updates our understanding, and the scope of information reflects the scale of these two decades of change. The breadth of research topics has expanded, mirroring the inclusion of a greater diversity of species, and attention is being trained on the emerging threats and the accelerating global changes to aquatic ecosystems.

Australia is home to a quarter of the world’s cartilaginous fishes (Class Chondrichthyes) with 328 species consisting of 182 sharks, 132 rays, and 14 chimaeras. The first Action Plan for Australian Sharks and Rays aims to provide a comprehensive and consistent review of the extinction risk of all cartilaginous fishes (hereafter ‘sharks’) occurring in Australian waters, to provide a benchmark from which changes in population and risk can be measured, and to help guide management for their conservation.

See the current studies on these iconic South Australian species, which has contributed to the implementation of the management strategies discussed in this website and provides valuable information on some understudied populations.

This report is about Australian, endemic elasmobranchs (hereafter ‘sharks and/or rays’) that require immediate action to conserve, manage, and recover populations according to the 2021 Action Plan for Australian Sharks and Rays. Fourteen Australian endemic sharks and rays are threatened. This report identifies ten which interact with the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF). The SESSF fishery was used as a best-case scenario of data availability.