How to get involved in national Sawfish Sighting Week
Tropical Far North waters are a haven for four of the world’s five species of sawfish and citizen scientists are needed to help find out how many of the critically endangered are left in the wild.
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Tropical Far North waters are a haven for four of the world’s five species of sawfish and citizen scientists are needed to help find out how many of the critically endangered are left in the wild.
Australia is home to some of the last significant populations of sawfish on the planet and during national Sawfish Sighting Week that begins on October 26, drone enthusiasts, boating and fishing fans and beachgoers have been invited to document sightings and report back to the Cairns headquartered research organisation, Sharks and Rays Australia.
Founder and sawfish expert Dr Barbara Wueringer said sawfish were most active early morning and late afternoon.
They live in shallow, coastal waters, estuaries, rivers and creeks, in tropical and subtropical regions, mainly using mudflats and mangroves as their habitats.
“There’s no question community involvement is taking sawfish conservation to the next level,” she said.
“When citizen scientists go out and try to spot sawfish, and report sightings and non-sightings back, we can use the ratio to estimate actual population numbers in different locations.
“Our sighting campaign has shown that people can see sawfish without targeting them, like when they walk their dogs along a beach, fly their drones, or while boating near mangroves, and this is the information we are interested in.”
The winner of the National Sawfish Sighting Week prize draw will join a two week SARA expedition to Cape York Peninsula dubbed a “once-in-a-lifetime experience”.
“The Cape is one of the wildest and most remote areas on the planet, and every trip is different,” Dr Wueringer said.
“North Australian waters may contain their last populations, and we can’t let them quietly disappear.
“This is why we want as many people as possible to register and join the search party during National Sawfish Sighting Week.”
In December 2023, the world’s five sawfish species were reassessed as critically endangered as published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.
It is believed the Cape York region holds the highest densities of the Australian sawfish population.
Registration can be made at the SARA website and close on Friday October 25.
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