Do they migrate?
Although some populations of white sharks stay in the same area for a long time or for at least part of the year, they are known to be highly migratory. Tagged sharks have moved across open ocean areas, such as Australia to New Zealand and California to Hawaii. This means that protection in Australian waters may not be enough to ensure the safety of sharks that migrate out of Australian ocean territory.
There is evidence of genetic exchange between white sharks in South Africa and Australia, suggesting movement of some white sharks between these areas.
In Australia two sharks were tagged in 2000 and 2001 in Victorian waters. ‘Heather’ migrated 880 km over 46 days and ‘Neale’ migrated 2946 km over 113 days. Movements have also been recorded from South Australia to southern Queensland and north-west Western Australia.
|
