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Sharks
that thrive near cafés!
Iain Suthers, University of New South Wales, Australia
Fishy
Interests
I was about 12 years old when I became interested in fishes.
They are so variable and different and interesting. I kept
a fish, learnt everything about fishes and just followed (perhaps
selfishly) what really interested me.
Don’t worry about packaging your science degree to suit the
job market. Just do what is interesting because then working
hard is easy. If you are interested and motivated and seek
out opportunities, then you will find that jobs can drop into
your lap.
This was how I landed a job as associate professor of Fisheries
and Marine Environmental Research at UNSW. This happened in
due time, which was quite fortunate for me because it meant
that I did not have to worry about affording the rent anymore!
The best thing about studying the ecology of fish, above all
other animals, is that they have little ear-bones in their
skull, which they use for balance and orientation and that
grow with annual and even daily growth rings. It is like the
fish's own personal time capsule that contains the chemistry
and growth record of its life.
My Day in Science
Today, I prepared for the annual field trip for my 3rd year
students to Smiths Lake. This is an interesting marine lagoon
that encapsulates many marine issues: fisheries, eutrophication
(a condition that exists in the environment when it is enriched
with excess nutrients, which is not necessarily a good thing),
growth, jellyfish problems etc.
Something else I did today was collating the marks for the
4th year honours students since they had recently concluded
their introductory seminars.
I also read an interesting article in the newspaper regarding
the Shark Summit held at a hotel near Sydney Aquarium on Monday
the 10th. It was all about how to diminish the incredibly
tiny risk of shark attack (versus the real risks of car accidents,
drowning or bee stings). The topics covered at the summit
ties into my day as I am writing a grant proposal with a group
of others to study the ecology and genetics of sharks and
rays in urban coastal waters, such as Sydney Harbour.
At the university, we still use the 1940s technology of short
gill nets off the major beaches as opposed to aerial surveys
and big fish hooks to study sharks. We have come to the conclusion
that to mitigate the risk of a shark attack, we need to know
a lot more about sharks! We have learnt some fascinating details
about White Shark movements from South Australia along the
NSW coast that seem to be structured around café’s
and highways! Following extensive research off South Africa
and in Queensland, we have begun to look at conservation methods.
A baby mako shark caught on candid camera in Jervis
Bay. We use these baited underwater video technology to look
at the effectiveness of marine parks.
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