The Dorsal Fin

Mike Gerken recently posted a video that features a large gathering of sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus) on the wreck of the USS Schurz off the North Carolina coast. The sand tiger shark footage begins at about 1:25 into the video. The video was shot on November 20, 2011.

DiscoveryNetworks has shared the video above which focuses on sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus). The feature is shot at the Florida Aquarium after it had recently added 6 sand tigers to the aquarium. Allan Marshall (VP of Operations for Florida Aquarium) says that the species is ideal to help educate people about sharks. The sand tiger’s “menacing” appearance really grabs the attention of aquarium visitors, once the sharks have the aquarium visitors’ attention, the aquarium staff can then educate them about the true nature of the sharks.

Sand tiger sharks, aka grey nurse sharks (AUS) and ragged tooth sharks (RSA), are generally viewed as docile and harmless to humans. According to Marshall, the species, was wrongfully blamed in the past for attacks on humans, simply due to its appearance, which led to hunting of the species. The species is now protected in Australian, South African, and U.S. waters.

DiscoveryNetworks also added a second video focusing on the journey that the six sand tiger sharks made to get to the Florida Aquarium.

A small sand tiger shark (aka grey nurse shark, or spotted ragged-tooth) caught by fishermen in Long Island Sound is making the rounds in the local news media. Despite being a species considered relatively harmless to humans, the news of the presence of a sand tiger shark apparently stirred up some fear among some of those interviewed in the story above.

Mystic Aquarium suggests that fishermen who catch sand tiger sharks should release them. While the fishermen who caught the shark seem to be enjoying the fame of their “big catch,” they told NBC Connecticut that they would release any sharks that they catch in the future.

Australia’s ABC network’s Triple J TV: HACK recently featured a story about the conservation of grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus) on the east coast of Australia. Grey nurse sharks (also known as Sand Tiger Sharks, and Spotted Ragged-Tooth Sharks) are reaching critically endangered levels on Australia’s east coast, according to the report. Despite being a protected species, conservationists believe that many of the sharks are still being accidentally hooked by fisherman.

Conflicting views are presented on how to protect and preserve grey nurse shark populations particularly along the coast of New South Wales. Options that are addressed are stricter fishing bans and artificial breeding of the species.

While I don’t know what the ideal solution to the problem is, Nicky Hammond’s assessment of the artificial breeding option makes sense to me. If the cause of the dwindling numbers of this species is not directly addressed, then breeding more sharks is just going to result in more of them being accidentally hooked. Artificially breeding grey nurse sharks would simply be a case of treating the symptoms without delivering a cure.