Mote Helps Ebay In The Ban Of Smalltooth Sawfish

January 26, 2006

Release from: Tampa Bays 10.com (Florida)

Sarasota, Florida - eBay has banned the trade of smalltooth sawfish parts from its online auction sites, and scientific experts at Mote Marine Laboratory, the Ocean Conservancy and other agencies will help them identify questionable species.

“This is a really important step for eBay to take because reducing the sale of smalltooth sawfish is one way to help the species recover,” said Dr. Colin Simpfendorfer, manager of the Elasmobranch Fisheries & Conservation Biology program in Mote’s Center for Shark Research.

Mote and other members of the Sawfish Recovery Team have been encouraging eBay to take this step and we applaud the fact that they did.

Not only will this help reduce sales of the species, but it could help raise public awareness about the animals’ dwindling numbers in the U.S.”

Mote scientists, who have been studying the species since 1999, played a critical role in providing the data that helped the Ocean Conservancy petition federal officials to get the smalltooth sawfish listed as an endangered species.

Smalltooth sawfish have been protected since 2003, making it illegal to harm or engage in interstate commerce of the species.

Historically, smalltooth sawfish ranged from New York state to Texas.

Today they are found primarily in the protected areas of Everglades National Park and the Ten Thousand Islands. They’re also regularly encountered from Charlotte Harbor to the Florida Keys and occasionally as far north as the Panhandle and Georgia, and as far south as Cuba.

Since Mote began collecting data on smalltooth sawfish in 1999, the Center for Shark Research has received more than 730 sighting reports from the public.

Mote scientists also actively tag sawfish to study their growth, movement patterns, habitat use and behavior.

“There’s still a lot we need to learn about sawfish,” said Tonya Wiley, staff biologist with Mote’s Sawfish Conservation Biology Program. “So far, what we have found is that ‘natural’ areas – places without a lot of coastal development – are important sawfish habitats. But we still don’t yet know for sure how many young they have at a time, how often they reproduce or how long they live. By getting sightings from the general public, and then tagging animals, we hope to be able to answer some of these questions that are crucial to the species’ survival.”

In 2005, Mote scientists tagged both their largest and their smallest smalltooth sawfish. The largest was just over 16 feet and the smallest was 29 inches. “It’s critical to know the most important habitats for this species and how these animals use different areas if they are to ever recover,” Simpfendorfer said. “And eBay’s changes will hopefully raise public awareness on a number of levels, letting more people know how they can help sawfish.”

If you catch a sawfish or see one, please report it at 800-691-6683(800-691-MOTE) or e-mail sawfish@mote.org .

Please include:

Name and contact information

Date, time and location of encounter (include GPS coordinates if possible) Approximate sawfish size What you were doing when you saw it (fishing, diving, snorkeling, etc.) Photos or video It is illegal to harm sawfish in any way.