Final report
Gummy sharks and school sharks are aged by counting growth-increment bands on the articular faces of vertebrae stained with alizarin red. The age data are required for application of age-structured fishery assessment models used by the Southern Shark Fishery Assessment Group for stock advice to the Southern Shark Fishery Management Advisory Committee.
The project demonstrated that gummy sharks can be held captive in land-based tanks for long periods, that survival rates in captive sharks can be improved with appropriate feeding regimes and treatment with antibiotics, and that growth rates of captive sharks can be increased over those found in the wild. The study also demonstrated that school sharks are difficult to hold in captivity.