Wild shark photos reveal Aussie scientist's 'game-changing' plan to boost numbers
University of the Sunshine Coast shark expert Dr Christine Dudgeon explained the species is facing extinction in Indonesia.
'In other countries, they have been over-harvested for fins and meat. Their beautiful, very tough skin has become prized by skin traders for use in the wall linings of expensive yachts,' she said.
It's an easy fish to target because it's slow-moving and lives on the ocean floor. Despite growing to 2 metres in length, the species poses no threat to humans. Globally, shark and ray numbers are in decline and that's leading to an imbalance in marine ecosystems. The University of the Sunshine Coast is a member of ReShark, a collective of more than 90 organisations working to boost numbers.
Related: 🔎 245-million-year-old shark mystery closer to being solved
With populations struggling overseas, there are concerns the genetic diversity of the next generations could suffer. What could make the problem even worse is that female sharks are able to give birth without the need for males to fertilise their eggs.
So to combat this problem, researchers have wrangled wild male sharks around Queensland's North Stradbroke Island and used a syringe to collect semen samples. "Our five-person team could syringe out semen and blood samples from male sharks underwater in the wild using 'tonic immobility', where sharks go into a sleep-state on their backs,' Dudgeon said.
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Using wild-collected semen, teams at aquariums in Australia and Singapore artificially inseminated captive female sharks and they are waiting patiently to see how many of the eggs hatch.
'We hope this marine reproduction technique will be a game-changer for international projects aiming to replenish the Stegostoma species globally, particularly in areas such as Indonesia where it is in danger of becoming extinct,' Dudgeon said.
Further missions are planned for northern New South Wales in March.
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