Flake fancy puts bite on future of our shark stocks

THE GREAT Aussie staple of fish and chips could be at risk without more protection for sharks, according to research carried out near Queenscliff.
Zoologist Bastien Rochowski ‘s study of sharks off Queenscliff suggested that life without flake and chips could be reality – and soon – without scientists learning more about shark reproduction to safeguard their numbers.
“They have a long gestation period, with few pups, and some of them don’t reproduce every year,” Mr Rochowski told the Independent.
“They reach maturity at a late age, some species around 20 years, and aren’t able to reproduce until then.”’
Mr Rochowski, a Melbourne University PhD student recently awarded a Victoria Young Scientist Research Prize, studies deep-sea shark species.
He said the fact sharks might produce only 10 pups in a lifetime – compared to fish that lay millions of eggs – made difficult their survival, even at the top of the marine food chain.
“This is important because those species are the flake that people buy for their fish and chips,” he said.
“The key factor to studying them is to work closely with fishermen and learn from each other.”
Mr Rochowski warned that an increasing demand for sharks – as food, even liver oil in cosmetics – threatened the sustainability of shark, especially as commercial fishing moved from exhausted shallow water stocks into deep water.
“Sharks play the role of a regulator on other species,” he said.
“We have seen species expanding dues to shark species depletion.
“What do we prefer: having an ocean with plenty of different fish to eat or an ocean full of a few species that are not nice to eat?
“To keep the balance in the ocean we have to be careful about the way we fish.”