These sharks occupy tertiary trophic levels.Juveniles and pups thrive in shallow coastal waters, such as bays and mangroves, which provide shelter from predators and waters high in nutrients from deposited sediments. Researchers attribute this growth in demand to the increase in shark fins as an expensive delicacy (such as in Hammerhead sharks are over fished all around the world for their fins and liver oil. Hammerhead sharks are over fished all around the world for their fins and liver oil. In parts of the Atlantic Ocean, their populations have declined by over 95% in the past 30 years.
It is estimated that 1.3 to 2.7 million fins are collected each year from smooth and scalloped hammerhead sharks for the shark fin trade. Reproduction is iteroparous, viviparous, and dioecious. predator and prey. It is associated with freshwater habitat. In six years (2012-2018), 592 hammerheads sharks have been culled at an average of 99 per year (6).
This seemingly protects the interests of commercial fishing at the expense of our environment and wildlife – by allowing continued fishing of threatened species if a plan to manage the capture of the species is in place. Individuals can grow to 400.0 kg. Great and scalloped hammerheads are already listed as threatened species in NSW and it is illegal to fish for them in NSW state waters (5).There is concern that the numbers of hammerhead sharks killed in fishing is under-reported in fishing records, so we do not know how severe the issue really is – it could be worse than we imagine. Sphyrna zygaena (Smooth Hammerhead) is a species of modern sharks in the family hammerhead sharks. Under this category, 78 tonnes of hammerhead sharks can be caught in the Great Barrier Reef, the largest catch of the species anywhere around Australia.Great and smooth hammerheads have no protection under the EPBC Act and are not listed to date.By contrast, the IUCN, an international body that assesses the conservation status of wildlife, assessed great and scalloped hammerheads as critically endangered and smooth hammerheads as vulnerable (3, 4). Many fishery reports have historically only reported the number of ‘hammerheads’ caught, rather than giving the numbers of each species caught. They are not considered dangerous and are normally not aggressive towards humans. Since 1937 in NSW and 1962 in QLD, lethal shark control programs have been carried out each year using either nets or drumlines.
Australia is a signatory to the convention.Any trade of CITES listed species must conform to a Non-Detriment Finding (NDF) which contains management guidelines to ensure the species survival is not threatened by trade. Although their low numbers means they qualify for an ‘Endangered’ listing, they are listed under the ‘Conservation Dependent’ category, which means commercial fishing for this endangered species can continue.‘Conservation Dependent’ is an odd category created specifically for fish. The female scalloped hammerheads undergo migration offshore at a smaller size than malesSexual maturity generally occurs once the scalloped hammerhead attains 240 cm in total or longer. The younger the sharks, the closer to the surface they tend to be, while the adults are found much deeper in the ocean. Scalloped hammerhead sharks are listed under the EPBC Act, the piece of Australian law that governs how we protect endangered wildlife from threats.
Smooth Hammerhead is a carnivore. These methods are outdated and ineffective – in 2006 a fatal shark bite occurred on a drumlined beach in Amity Point, QLD (7).The Australian Marine Conservation Society acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of this land and sea country, and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. Physically, the mature females have considerably wider uteri than their maturing counterparts. This means there is limited information on the actual number of each of these threatened species caught in Australian waters.Commercial fishing is the biggest threat to hammerheads, with 370t of hammerhead sharks legally allowed to be caught every year in Australian waters (1).The trade in these species is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) convention. An NDF is a decision and report made by the Federal Government using information provided by an independent and objective scientific assessment of CITES listed species.AMCS questions the findings in the NDF report that the current levels of hammerhead harvest are sustainable and instead recommends a more precautionary approach that restricts catch and prohibits export in light of:Hammerhead sharks are also threatened by culling through lethal shark control programs.