Recovery planning strategies for Great White Shark

National recovery planning strategies

The Great White Shark is listed as Vulnerable and migratory under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. In 2002, the Department of the Environment, in collaboration with State Government agencies, prepared a National Recovery plan for Great White Sharks. However, a review finalised in 2008 concluded that it was not possible to determine if the Great White Shark population in Australian waters has shown any sign of recovery. The review concluded that a new recovery plan should be developed to remove the completed actions and include new conservation priorities. The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) collaborated with the Department of the Environment to produce a National Recovery Plan for Great White Sharks which was released as a final plan in 2013.

State recovery planning strategies

The NSW DPI has not prepared a State recovery plan for Great White Sharks. In 2004, the NSW State Government amended the Fisheries Management Act 1994 as part of a broader natural resource management reform package. The amendments included a requirement for the Director-General of DPI to prepare and adopt a Priorities Action Statement (PAS) for threatened species, populations, ecological communities and key threatening processes.  A PAS has been developed for Great White Sharks. It contains a species profile and strategies and actions to be adopted to promote the recovery of the species  The overall objective of the PAS is to ensure the recovery and ongoing viability of Great White Sharks along the NSW coast. The PAS actions for Great White Sharks prioritise the actions contained within the National Recovery Plan for the species.