Sharks net scots

A predatory shark species inhabiting the Brisbane River has lured Scottish researchers to our shores as part of a unique collaboration with UQ.

A $600,000, three-year project will see UQ PhD student and keen fisher Richard Pillans working with a team from Scotland's University of St Andrews to study the movements and physiology of the migratory bull shark.

The bull shark, so named for its oversized head and sometimes aggressive nature, can grow in excess of three metres in length and seasonally swims up the Brisbane River to give live birth to up to 12 pups.

Associate Professor Craig Franklin, who first garnered the interest of St Andrews some three years ago, said the chance to study a large freshwater shark species was a rare and exciting opportunity.

"There really is so little information known about this shark (and not just among Brisbane jet-skiers) that this collaboration promises to uncover some exciting findings," Dr Franklin said. "Most sharks die in anything less than 50 percent seawater, so the bull shark is clearly very unusual. We don't yet know how they survive these extreme conditions, how many there are, nor how long they stay upstream."

But of course to study sharks, one has to catch them first, which is also what makes this particular project unique.

"Richard is really the key," explained Dr Franklin. "He has mastered the live-bait, line-fishing techniques to catch this shark, and catch it regularly. And that really proved to be the catalyst that attracted St Andrews? involvement."

Mr Pillans, who is part-sponsored by the Co-operative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management, has caught about 30 large bull sharks this season to assist in his study (pups are routinely tagged and released).

Ultimately, special transmitters will be put on some of the sharks to track their migratory movements.

Research team

Project co-ordinators:
  • Associate Professor Craig E. Franklin (UQ) www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/franklince.html;
  • Associate Professor Neil Hazon (University of St Andrews);
    other researchers:
  • Dr Gary Anderson (University of St Andrews postdoctoral fellow);
  • Dr Gordon Cramb (University of St Andrews);
  • Richard Pillans (UQ PhD student);
  • Jonathon Good (University of St Andrews PhD student); and
  • Allan Wells (University of St Andrews).

    Funding
    NERC (UK) (£220,000 over three years)
    CRC for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management ($5000 per year to Richard Pillans
    plus scholarship top-up)

    Email
    cfranklin@zen.uq.edu.au
    nh1@st-andrews.ac.uk

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