Whitetip Reef Shark

Meet Wilbur & Wilma the Whitetip reef sharks, residents of Lizard Island lagoon at the aptly named 'Whitetip Bommie'. Super-friendly sharks, always interested to come and say g'day to our eco-education freedive groups, and a single interaction with these animals is often the highlight of somebody's whole experience at Lizard Island.

Reef sharks are far more ecologically and economically valuable alive than dead, and yet the latest assessment of their global status shows they have been seriously overfished and are now functionally extinct on 20% of the world's coral reefs and in decline globally.

Recovery of shark populations is possible but it depends on three actions:
1) reduction in gillnet and longline fishing effort
2) suppression or closure of the trade in shark fin and shark products

3) a greater number of very large marine reserve areas which reflect the long distances that sharks travel

Reefs without sharks are bad news for the marine ecosystem and bad news for us too, so let's keep the awareness high and the pressure for action strong.

#TooPreciousToLose

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