Green sawfish to be declared extinct in NSW - 30 January

Replies 1-4 of 4

PhillipB added 2007-01-30

According to my copy of Grants Fishes of Australia, NSW waters were only ever a small part of the green sawfish range:

"Its distribution ranges from the tropical waters of WA through the NT and into QLD, reaching as far south as the coastal rivers of central NSW. In regions such as the Gulf of Carpentaria will enter freshwaters; it has been captured more than 150 miles from the sea..."

Its rather misleading of the NCC to describe them as 'extinct' if they exist in good numbers in most of their original range.

PhillipB added 2007-02-02

Megan Kessler has done this sort of thing before. Part of the NCC website said that a reason to protect seagrass at PSGLMP was because dugongs feed on these grasses and there has been sitings of dugongs at Port Stephens. When emailed she sent a link to the DES website. The link and it said yes, dugongs have been seen at Port Stephens but that they were DEAD and washed up onshore because of cyclone's in QLD sending a few dugong's off course our way. The website went on to explain that dugongs can't survive in our colder waters hence there is no known population here and never has been. When emailed back several times with the findings Megan Kessler never replied.

Megan Kessler added 2007-03-07

Just wanted to clarify some of the issues raised in this discussion.

The independent Fisheries Scientific Committee (not the Nature Conservation Council) has recommended that the green sawfish be listed as extinct in NSW. In NSW, specimens have been collected from Byron Bay in the north to the Parramatta River in the south, plus a Jervis Bay record without a museum voucher specimen. The Fisheries Scientific Committee considered that the green sawfish has suffered a serious population decline in NSW and that the species is eligible to be listed as PRESUMED EXTINCT. For more information on this visit: http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/103272/PD-Green-sawfish.pdf

The dugong is considered an endangered species in NSW and can be found as far south as the Sydney Metropolitan area. Dugongs are known to come south in the warmer months and return north over winter. Even though they are only found in more southern waters for part of the year it is still vital to protect their habitat. If they can not feed when they come south, they will not have the energy to return to their wintering grounds and this is potentially fatal for these individuals. For more information visit: http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10909

Megan Kessler Fisheries and Marine Networker Adopt a Shark Coordinator Nature Conservation Council of NSW

PhillipB added 2007-03-08

I had a look at the threatened species section of the DEC website. It describes the dugong's presence in NSW as follows:

"Distribution Extends south from warmer coastal and island waters of the Indo-West Pacific to northern NSW, where its known from incidental records only."

I would also wonder what is the threat to seagrasses and why marine parks are needed to protect them? From my own observations I know there are large areas of seagrasses in Sydney's heavily used Botany Bay.

Replies 1-4 of 4

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