Search

Simple Summary: In eastern Australia, the movement of subadult and adult white sharks is poorly understood as very few animals are encountered. To investigate how deep they dive, where they travel and water temperatures they live in, we tagged three white sharks (340–388 cm total length) between May 2021 and January 2022. All sharks moved away from the coast after release and preferred offshore habitats. The three sharks mainly stayed within 50 m of the surface, in water temperatures between 14–19 °C and dived deeper during the day. They all moved north–south along the coastline and spent little time in the same location but there was evidence that they stayed in some locations longer than others. Very little information is available for adult white sharks in eastern Australia and studies like this provide key information about their preferences. As they travel long distances it is important for multijurisdictional management to effectively mitigate human-shark interactions whilst supporting conservation efforts. In eastern Australia, white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are targeted in shark control programs, yet the movement of subadults and adults of the eastern Australasian population is poorly understood. To investigate horizontal and vertical movement and habitat use in this region, MiniPAT pop-up satellite archival tags were deployed on three larger white sharks (340–388 cm total length) between May 2021 and January 2022. All sharks moved away from the coast after release and displayed a preference for offshore habitats. The upper < 50 m of the water column and temperatures between 14–19 °C were favoured, with a diel pattern of vertical habitat use evident as deeper depths were occupied during the day and shallower depths at night. Horizontal movement consisted of north–south seasonality interspersed with periods of residency. Very little information is available for adult white sharks in eastern Australia and studies like this provide key baseline information for their life history. Importantly, the latitudinal range achieved by white sharks illuminate the necessity for multijurisdictional management to effectively mitigate human-shark interactions whilst supporting conservation efforts of the species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preliminary Data about Habitat Use of Subadult and Adult White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in Eastern Australian Waters. Reference 1 Coxon J.L., Butcher P.A., Spaet J.L.Y., Rizzari J.R. Preliminary Data about Habitat Use of Subadult and Adult White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in Eastern Australian Waters. (a) Lennox Head, tagging site of white shark 1 (W1) and Ballina, tagging site of white shark 2 (W2), (b) Evans Heads, tagging site of white shark 3 (W3), and (c) W1 secured to the side of the vessel during tagging procedure (image provided by the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries). [Extracted from the article]