Conventional tagging of sharks in Western Australia: The main commercial species exhibit contrasting movement patterns

Understanding movement patterns underlies effective management and conservation measures. The current study summarises the main findings from a tagging program of Western Australian sharks to provide insights into the movement patterns of the main commercial shark species: dusky (Carcharhinus obscurus), sandbar (C. plumbeus), gummy (Mustelus antarcticus) and whiskery (Furgaleus macki) sharks. Between 1993 and 2020, >12 000 individuals from 52 taxonomic groups were implanted with conventional tags in Western Australia, of which 8.5% were recaptured. Most of the tagged (74.5%) and recaptured (95.8%) individuals belong to the four main commercial shark species. Recaptured individuals of these species, as well as tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) and bronze whaler (C. brachyurus) sharks showed displacements of >1000 km and rates of movement (ROMs) of >10 km day–1, with the exception of whiskery sharks, which showed much slower ROMs (