Watch the video........Scientists have developed a unique statistical method to measure Australia’s two white shark populations (east and west), vital information to support management and conservation decisions relating to this iconic species. The method is part of a new toolkit of tagging, aerial survey and DNA fingerprinting being used to unlock the mysteries of shark life and death. We’re very close to unlocking the numbers in the east of Australia and now we have begun our work in south-west Australia.

Read about our latest research and watch a video on tagging the white shark on the CSIRO news blog

• Facts about sharks (CSIRO) - http://www.csiro.au/en/Research/Environment/Oceans-and-coasts/Sharks
• Marine Hub project 2.5 - White shark population and abundance trends

This research is part of the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship, funded by the Australian Government’s National Environmental Research Program Marine Biodiversity Hub (NERP Hub). Research in NSW on the east coast has been supported by the Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority and the Melbourne Aquarium and has involved the NSW Department of Primary Industry, the University of Technology, Sydney and Tag-For-Life.

The tracking of white sharks uses data sourced from the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) which is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and the Super Science Initiative. The expansion of the research to the west is a joint NERP Hub project with CSIRO and the Department of Fisheries Western Australia.