Modern shark conservation can largely be traced back to Australia’s grey nurse shark. In 1984, the gentle giant became the first protected shark in history when the government of New South Wales declared it a protected species.
Today, the grey nurse shark — widely considered the most docile and friendly shark species in the world — has similar protections throughout Australia, South Africa, and Namibia.
It’s been a long and harrowing journey for the shark, which is one of Australia’s most endangered marine species. After being nearly hunted to extinction in the 1950s, the population struggled to recover in the decades since.
According to the Independent, a survey from 2000 estimated that their numbers in New South Wales (NSW) dwindled down to as low as 292.
David Harasti, a senior research scientist at the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, said the sharks have earned their reputation as the “labradors of the sea” due to their harmless nature.
“It's one of the more placid sharks; they come and look at you really inquisitively, they follow you around,” the marine biologist told the Australian Broadcasting Company on September 13.
“They're a very ferocious-looking shark with big pointy teeth, but they're not known to bite people.”
Harasti has been observing the species’ decline throughout his 20-year career in marine biology. He said that scuba divers were the first to raise the alarm.
“Divers went actively searching for grey nurse sharks, and where they used to find dozens, they could only find a handful,” he said.
Fortunately, new research from the NSW Department of Primary Industries and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is giving experts like Harasti renewed hope for the species.
“The adult population is now estimated to be around 1,500 along the east coast and rising,” Harasti said. “It's increasing around five percent a year, so this is a really good thing.”
To conduct the research, divers had to “sneak up” upon grey nurse sharks in the wild and carefully collect samples for genetic modelling.
“Quite often, underwater, you're contorting your body to get these samples,” he said. “The results back up what divers have been noticing in the wild.”
Despite their recent recovery, grey nurse sharks remain vulnerable to recreational and commercial fishing, according to University of the Sunshine Coast researcher Ross Dwyer.
“These results are really promising, it shows the population does seem to be increasing, but the numbers are still very low,” Dwyer said.
“The genetic testing is exciting, but it's still in its infancy and needs to be corroborated.”
The sharks, which grow to roughly 10 feet in length, tend to swim along the ocean floor of coastal waters along the eastern shorelines of Australia.
Like all sharks, the species plays a crucial role in ocean health. As an apex predator, grey nurse sharks feed on prey populations like fish, squid, and octopus. This behavior, in turn, keeps local food webs from destabilizing.
In addition to New South Wales DPI and CSIRO’s recent efforts to monitor the population, conservationists have been encouraging local divers to log encounters with the species on the Spot A Shark app.
As Harasti and his peers harbor hope for the grey nurse shark’s continued recovery, he took a moment to celebrate the latest milestone.
He said: “This is one of our first good news marine stories for a threatened species.”
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Header image via David Harasti
