Introducing: The Shark Population Assessment Group

Smalltooth sawfish in the Everglades National Park. 

Everglades National Park and the Ten Thousand Islands National Refuges make up one the largest expanses of relatively pristine mangrove habitat.  This area is critical as one of the last remaining ‘lifeboats’ for smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) in the western Atlantic.  Monitoring juvenile abundance and gaining a better understanding of their use of mangrove habitats is crucial to their recovery.

For sawfish populations to recover successfully, juvenile sawfish must make it through their first few years of life. Our work now includes the protection of important habitat areas for juveniles, in order to promote their survival. Over the last 5 years, we have been conducting scientific surveys to monitor smalltooth sawfish abundance and habitat use. We have also collected information on how environmental factors affect the number of sawfish present, and how extreme weather events may lead to recruitment failure - years when juvenile sawfish do not survive.  Earlier studies showed that sheltered, shallow, mangrove areas are used as nursery habitats. We have also found that the daily activity spaces of juvenile sawfish are small, meaning that they do not move large distances as young fish. However, they seem to gradually expand their area of activity during their first year of growth. 

 

Dr John Carlson, at the US National Marine Fisheries Service, manages a team of scientists and technicians that are dedicated to gaining a better understanding of the life history and habitat use of smalltooth sawfish.  As Everglades National Park is so expansive, cooperation among various partners is required to fully implement our field program.  The field team is lead by Dana Bethea, who works closely with Everglades National Park rangers and local fisherman to identify areas where sawfish have been located to help us refine our sampling strategy. 

Learn more about the team here: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/fish/smalltoothsawfish.htm

Introducing: The Protect Africa's Sawfishes project

Sawfish populations have declined dramatically, worldwide, in recent decades. Throughout much of the developing world, there is little or no information on whether sawfishes are still present. This is certainly the case for most African countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, sawfishes were historically found in suitable coastal and riverine habitats both on the west coast, from Mauritania south to Angola, and on the east coast from Somalia south to the KwaZulu-Natal coast of South Africa. But where are they now?

My name is Ruth Leeney and I am the founder and director of Protect Africa’s Sawfishes. The Protect Africa's Sawfishes project works with local communities to conduct sawfish research & conservation throughout Africa. The Protect Africa's Sawfishes team consists of many local collaborators whose help and interest in the project have been invaluable. Our aim is to document where the remaining populations of sawfishes occur and to work with communities to understand the cultural and economic importance of sawfishes to people, but also the local threats to sawfishes, such as fisheries and habitat destruction. This information is essential for our longer-term goal - to develop conservation strategies for sawfishes in African waters, and to encourage community-managed conservation of both sawfishes and their habitats. The primary tools used to achieve these goals are research, collaboration with local organisations and individuals, education and communication; at the community, government and international levels. Providing training and resources to collaborators is a key element and builds local capacity and awareness. Looking beyond the African continent, I hope to encourage, support and collaborate with teams in other developing countries, to collect baseline information on sawfishes and thereby to better understand where future conservation efforts should be focused.

The interview team in the Bijagos Islands, Guinea-Bissau.
Left to right: Ruth Leeney, Buas Napoleão dos Reis, Reinaldo Natcha,
Victor Albino Lopes and two fishermen.

So far, baseline information on sawfishes has been collected from Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia and Lake Piso in Liberia. I look forward to returning to Liberia in the near future, to continue that study with my enthusiastic collaborators in Farmers Associated for the Conservation of the Environment (FACE) and the Society for the Conservation of Nature Liberia (SCNL). Research is ongoing in Mozambique, in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Investigação Pesceira (Institute for Fisheries Research) and additional research projects are in development for 2015 and beyond.

For more information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectAfricasSawfishes

Introducing: Team Sawfish of Western Australia Monitoring sawfish in Western Australia since 2002

 

The Fitzroy River in Western Australia, is arguably one of the largest and most important known nurseries of the critically endangered largetooth (or freshwater) sawfish (Pristis pristis). Juvenile largetooth sawfish inhabit rivers and lakes for over four years before moving into estuarine and marine waters, where they can can grow up to 7 m (23 feet) in length! In the river these fish face an increased threat from habitat modifications, including dams and water abstraction. It is therefore critical that we understand the ecology and life history of these threatened fish and how they are impacted by human disturbances, in order to conserve remaining populations.

Commencing in 2002, we (Team Sawfish) have studied the population of largetooth sawfish that inhabits the Fitzroy River and surrounding environments. Through our work, we have gained a better understanding of the ecology and physiology of this species. Our program is the longest continuously run research involving the largetooth sawfish in the world. The long duration of this research allows us to provide invaluable insight into the long-term changes in this sawfish population.

Team Sawfish measuring a juvenile largetooth sawfish in the Fitzroy River. 

Managed by Dr David Morgan at Murdoch University’s Freshwater Fish Group & Fish Health Unit, Team Sawfish is a partnership between Murdoch University, the various ranger groups in the west Kimberley, including the Nyikina-Mangala Rangers, and the people of the west Kimberley. As the Fitzroy River is located in a remote and harsh environment, Murdoch University researchers depend on local rangers and residents to provide local knowledge, assist with field work and report sawfish captures.

Our program has grown through the years in numbers and projects. Starting on the Fitzroy River, we have expanded its focus to now include the largetooth sawfish, green sawfish (Pristis zijsron) and dwarf sawfish (Pristis clavata) in the Fitzroy River and throughout the entirety of northern Western Australia, one of the last hotspots for these species. 

Check back here for more updates on Team Sawfish and our research. For more information, visit: http://www.freshwaterfishgroup.com/team-sawfish.php.

  Team Sawfish 2012 at Geikie Gorge on the Fitzroy River, Western Australia. Photo: Paul Billan

Introducing: Australia's Northern Territory sawfish research group

Northern Australia represents one of the last population strongholds for sawfishes anywhere in the world; four of the world’s five species are found here. The Northern Territory (NT) sits within the middle of that core population area, but sawfish occurrence and status remains poorly-known. The National Environment Research Program’s Marine Biodiversity Hub (http://www.nerpmarine.edu.au/) is leading a project to improve the understanding and management of sawfishes (as well as river sharks). The project involves telemetry studies to track sawfish, genetic studies and fishery-independent surveys.

Project partners, Charles Darwin University, NT Fisheries and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) along with key collaborators Kakadu National Park and the Malak Malak Traditional Owners and Ranger Group have been surveying Pristis pristis (commonly known as the largetooth sawfish or freshwater sawfish) in various river systems of the NT, in particular the Daly, Adelaide and South Alligator Rivers. The team is currently working on refining the northern Australian population structure of P. pristis using whole mitogenome sequencing, reviewing the occurrence of dwarf sawfish (Pristis clavata) in NT waters, and examining movement and habitat use of juvenile largetooth sawfish. A PhD student is examining the impact and conservation benefits of displaying sawfish in Australian domestic aquariums.

The project’s research aims to assist the Australian Commonwealth Department of the Environment to manage and ultimately recover sawfish populations.

For more information, visit: http://www.nerpmarine.edu.au/sawfish

Contact: Peter Kyne (peter.kyne AT cdu.edu.au)

Peter Kyne holds a juvenile largetooth sawfish. Photo: M. Lawrence-Taylor

Welcome to the blog of the Sawfish Conservation Society!

Sawfishes are one of the most threatened groups of elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) worldwide. Conservation work is underway in areas such as northern Australia, Florida (USA) and various parts of Africa including Mozambique, but these efforts can be hampered by a lack of public awareness about sawfishes and the threats they face. This blog has been set up to provide news and images from sawfish research and conservation projects around the world.

If you have any questions or would like to contribute to the blog, please contact the Sawfish Conservation Society via their facebook group, or email the group:
sawfishconservationsociety AT gmail.com. Thanks for reading!