This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub project "Updating knowledge of Australian white sharks". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- The white shark is listed as vulnerable and migratory under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The national White Shark Recovery Plan 2013 sets out research and management actions necessary to support the recovery of the white shark in Australian waters. Previous research funded by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) provided updated estimates of white shark breeding population size and trend. However, the results were based on modest data sets and were limited by some critical knowledge gaps in relation to pupping and juvenile nursery areas, and uncertainty about how populations are connected between eastern and south-western Australia. Recent unpublished work has raised the prospect of a single Australian population. The White Shark Recovery Plan 2013 has identified a critical need for a quantitative assessment of population trends and evidence of any recovery of the white shark in Australian waters. This project will provide an update and reduce uncertainty regarding the status, trends, and population structure of white sharks in Australian waters. Specifically, it will focus efforts to identify critical habitats and biologically important areas for white sharks and improve the understanding of population status through advancing close-kin mark recapture research. Three project sub-components will involve: • Investigating the feasibility of filling knowledge gaps about juvenile and pupping areas and adult movements; • Investigating population structure to resolve mixing/connectivity questions; and • Updating population estimates based on significant new data. The project approach will comprise of: (1) A pilot study to assess the effectiveness of tagging adult females (>4.5 metres) and juveniles (>2 m) throughout the southern-western white shark range. Genetic samples will be gathered from around Australia and sought from South Africa and New Zealand to conduct a comprehensive update of white shark stock structure. (2) Using an expanded tissue sample set from New South Wales (~1000 samples) to update and refine estimates of adult population size and population trend for the eastern white shark population. Juvenile numbers will be estimated using data from the New South Wales shark management program. Additional samples from South Australia and Western Australia will be combined with previous samples in the southern-western population to refine estimates of population size. (3) Population estimates undertaken using close-kin mark-recapture, a technique that combines advanced genetics and statistical modelling to infer population demographics by identifying close-kin-pairs (parent-offspring or half-siblings) among a collection of sampled animals. Outputs • New genetic samples and sequencing data for white sharks [dataset] • Tracking data derived from 12 PAT tags [dataset] • Final technical report (including recommendations for systematic future research to assist in identifying additional critical habitat for the south-western white shark population) [written]

White sharks are listed as vulnerable under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and actions to assist their recovery and long-term viability are prescribed in a national recovery plan for the species. A priority action is to develop an effective means of estimating the size of white shark populations and monitor their status (population trend). This would provide a scientific basis for assessing recovery actions, and for local policies governing human-shark interactions: an issue of significant public concern. NESP Project A3 provides a national assessment of the southern-western adult white shark population abundance and an update of the total eastern Australasian white shark population abundance and status in order to establish the efficacy of existing recovery actions and provide a scientifically sound and rational basis from which to inform policies that aim to balance conservation objectives and public safety. This record describes the individual DNA sequencing of over 500 animals for CK-MR analyses of SA/WA population tissue samples.

White sharks are listed as vulnerable under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and actions to assist their recovery and long-term viability are prescribed in a national recovery plan for the species. A priority action is to develop an effective means of estimating the size of white shark populations and monitor their status (population trend). This would provide a scientific basis for assessing recovery actions, and for local policies governing human-shark interactions: an issue of significant public concern. NESP Project A3 provides a national assessment of the southern-western adult white shark population abundance and an update of the total eastern Australasian white shark population abundance and status in order to establish the efficacy of existing recovery actions and provide a scientifically sound and rational basis from which to inform policies that aim to balance conservation objectives and public safety. This record describes white shark distribution and movement through the use of acoustic and electronic tags fitted to approx. 70 animals. Tag detection data are continually uploaded to the IMOS Animal Tracking Facility (ATF) database. This data collection has been granted Protected Species Status and access to the data is currently restricted. Refer to the Point of Contact listed in this record for further information regarding access to data.