The first order to catch and kill a shark in Western Australia has come after the release of new guidelines in November by the Fisheries Department. The Fisheries department shark response unit declared there was an imminent threat to beach goers and the order was issued to capture dangerous great white sharks. Fisheries officers are keeping an eye on the waters off Dunsborough, where there have been numerous shark sightings. There have been many repeated reports of sightings in the past week of great white sharks from 6 to 12 feet long. The latest sighting in the region was reported by South-West Westpac Rescue Helicopter on Friday at noon, who sighted an unidentified 6-foot shark tracking west 32 feet off Point Piquet near Dunsborough. The day before there had been a report of sighting of a 6 to 9-foot Great White shark at Kingston Reef Rottness. On Tuesday a 9…

AN International shark expert believes the juvenile sharks that washed ashore on Nukulau could be the unborn pups of a pregnant female Hammerhead that was killed at sea. Dr Demian Chapman who is an internationally recognised shark expert also conducted a study on the shark fin trade in Suva and he said there was a possibility of foul play in the deaths. “The concentration of so many washing up in an area does suggest a fishery discard. Notably, litters of 30 plus are possible in this species,” Dr Chapman said.“Perhaps a gravid female was killed and her pups removed during gutting and discarded. Fin traders would pay good money for adult scalloped hammerhead fins,” he said. All the dead pups mysteriously carried similar injuries to their gills, injuries Dr Chapman said could be attributed to small fish or crabs. “Now that I see all of the pictures, I think that…

The last few months have been busy for Carol the mako shark. After spending spring in Fiji, October near the Coromandel Peninsula and November off the East Coast she opted to celebrate Christmas Day in the Cook Strait. At the moment she's making quick time towards Kaikoura. So much is known of Carol's holiday plans because she is being tracked by The New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) which is conducting research on mako sharks, funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries. To date, Carol - who was named after a researcher's mother - has travelled more than 13,300 kilometres in seven months, averaging 60km a day and exceeding 100km a day during some parts of her migration. Scientists have been tracking Carol, a 1.8-metre mako, using a satellite reporting tagging device known as a SPOT tag. This was attached to Carol in the Bay of…