Shark's Life 'Could Have Been Saved'

April 3, 2008

Release from: Chelsea White
Manly Daily (Australia)

A YOUNG great white shark that washed up on both Freshwater and Queenscliff beach may have been able to be saved if the proper authorities had been notified and identified the shark.

The endangered juvenile white lived for almost an hour after being dragged up on rocks by a lifeguard.

Despite the Department of Primary Industries being notified, a Fisheries officer did not come to pick up the shark as it had been mistakenly identified as a mako.

A Fisheries fish care volunteer, who is believed to have made the original identification, took the shark's head and it was not until the next morning that a Fisheries shark expert came to see the now-headless body to do an autopsy.

The fish care volunteer returned the head to the expert for formal identification.

The shark was found not to have any hook or net injuries and to have probably been in good health.

Charlie Huveneers, a marine biologist and shark expert from Sydney Institute of Marine Science, attended the autopsy with the Fisheries employee and said he believed the shark had accidentally beached itself.

Dr Huveneers said it depended on the situation, but sometimes sharks in this condition could be saved.

Yesterday a spokeswoman for Fisheries confirmed that they had not attended the beached shark because they didn't realise it was a great white. "The issue was that it had been mistakenly identified as a mako shark and we do not do autopsies on threatened species," she said.

Yesterday the senior aquarist from Oceanworld, Victoria Brims, appealed to the public to contact them if they find an animal in distress, as they can either help or direct other experts to the animal.