Blog
My Six-Month Internship: Year Five
by Nikki Biskis Sometimes I think back to that day in Melbourne where I called Barbara at Sharks And Rays Australia to ask what she had. We had an...
Interns and volunteers wanted
Sharks And Rays Australia (SARA) is seeking to fill the following positions: One social media intern, to look after our facebook page. You will...
A saw returned
A saw returned In March 2022 Barbara received a message from a friend. He had found an old sawfish saw in a local op shop in Cairns, and wanted her...
Spotters t-shirts
What are sawfish spotters? Have you noticed some very cool looking people recently, wearing the SARA Sawfish Spotter's t-shirts? We are very proud...
The art of Rod Lucas
In March 2022, i (Barbara) visited Karumba for a Queensland Fisheries meeting. During a break at the meeting, Rod Lucas popped in! I had never...
SawSearch project update
By Annmarie Fearing, University of Mississippi ‘SawSearch’ is a collective research effort led by Dr. Nicole Phillips and Annmarie Fearing from the...
Social media interns wanted
Sharks And Rays Australia (SARA) is seeking up to three social media interns to support our team in science communication. You will help us...
Job: Non-executive Director (voluntary)
Summary: SARA-r is recruiting board directors to grow our new entity. The directors will lead our strategic vision, consistent with our core values...
A long awaited delivery
by Nikki Biskis Our cases are settling into their new homes quite nicely. With over 20 completely built and in various stages of delivery, we...
Building cases
Our Display Cases are underway by Nikki Biskis After almost two years in the making, SARA’s sawfish display cases are officially being assembled. It...
Wrapping up 2020
Wrapping up 2020 We have heard it all too often, but what a year 2020 has been! Normally I get to spend about 3 months a year in the field, working...
Sharks4Kids podcast
Sharks4Kids webinar with Dr Wueringer in June 2020, Dr Jillian Morrison brake from Sharks4Kids invited Dr Wueringer to join a Sharks4Kids webinar....
Croaker podcast
Croaker Podcast in June 2020, James Donaldson from the Northern Gulf Natural Resource Management Group invited Dr Wueringer to join him for an...
A rare insight into the habitat requirements of large Aussie sawfish
By Barbara Wueringer Sawfish are very unique creatures, which sometimes poses problems when working with them. The saw of a large sawfish can easily...
An important meeting
by Barbara Wueringer In December 2019 I had the opportunity and pleasure to meet Dr Sally Box, Australia's Threatened Species Commissioner. We...
Turning trophies into messengers for conservation
by Nikki Biskis and Barbara Wueringer We are excited to announce that a long imagined SARA initiative is well underway! Since commencing our public...
Unexpected mail
by Nikki Biskis In September 2018, SARA received what is probably the cutest scientific interview of all time. Billy, Charlie, Dylan and Jayden of...
Go Fund Me
Since 2015, Sharks And Rays Australia is working with sawfish in Queensland. They are globally critically endangered. We spend about 3 months in the...
Commercial Fishers Showcase Their Sawfish Release Skills
By Veronika Biskis Sawfish populations are receding to some of the most remote areas in northern Queensland. SARA works with sawfish in Queensland...
Let’s stop the blame game and start collaborating!
In Australia, we have a responsibility to look after our four species of sawfish. Sawfish are the most endangered of all sharks and rays globally....
International Sawfish Day in Cairns October 2019
International Sawfish Day in Cairns, October 2019 By Nikki Biskis In October 2019, SARA and the Cairns Aquarium teamed up for an International...
The cultural importance of sawfish in Australia
Once a year, the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair kicks off in Cairns. Indigenous artists from all over Far North Queensland and Cape York come to Cairns...
Questionnaire
Have you received a questionnaire? In January 2019, SARA teamed up with the Gulf Fisherman Association Inc. to send out questionnaires to fishers...
The species we work with
Thanks to Garry Ogston, Gemma Bauld and Grace McNicholas and Morna McGuire for writing the summaries!Freshwater (or largetooth) sawfish Pristis...
Sawfish or sawshark?
By Paddy Burke (Sharks4Kids ambassador & PhD student at Macquarie University, @Patrick_Burke) The ocean is filled with so many...
Wrapping up 2018
SARA was founded with the goal to contribute to elasmobranch science in Queensland and Australia, while also working with people from all walks of...
SawSearch project update December 2018
Playing the food web game
In early November 2018, Sharks4Kids and Sharks And Rays Australia embarked on a joint mission to visit schools around Far North...
Accelerometer tags on a sawfishes’ saw
We were out in the waters of the Mitchell River, near the Indigenous community of Kowanyama. Every day we would wake at 3am ready for a 4am start...
Queensland and it’s sawfishes. by Nicolas Lubitz & Barbara Wueringer
written by Nicolas Lublitz and Barbara WueringerSawfish are the stuff of legends: Animals that can grow up to 7 m long and have an...
A student internship – Part 2 by Grace McNicholas
The next morning, we woke to strong winds and white horses on the river, which up until now had been as flat as a pancake. We later...
A student internship – Part 1. by Grace McNicholas
It’s safe to say, each of us were equally as excited to be part of an all-female team representing women in science. Our international...
Sawfish at the Cairns Museum
In August 2018, Sharks And Rays Australia and the Cairns Museum jointly organized a sawfish afternoon at the museum, for National Science Week. Kier...
Sawfish – the forgotten sea monsters
Sharks And Rays Australia and the Cairns Museum are teaming up for National Science Week 2018 and we're asking you to help us to gather...
When art meets conservation
When I heard that Pangea Seed Foundation was considering to use Cairns as the canvas for their first Australian Sea Walls event, I was really...
Saws
This blog post was originally published as a project update for the Save Our Seas Foundation. You can access the original post here. Sometimes...
SeaWalls 2018 Welcome
SARA welcomes the Sea Walls artists to Cairns! Here, at Sharks And Rays Australia we are super excited to have you wonderful people...
Outreach, outreach, outreach
By Barbara Wueringer Even if your research is extremely meaningful, there is a high chance that most people outside of your field have...
Release a sawfish video
Our friends over at NESP (Northern Environmental Science Program) and Charles Darwin University have created an awesome video on how to release...
Sawfish, stingrays and SARA
By Rebecca Bateman-John (insta: @rebeccabj_captured) When I first applied to volunteer with Sharks and Rays Australia (SARA) on a...
Delta Downs Expedition (Part Two) by Liz Xanthopoulos
by Liz Xanthopolous, A visitor to this time Home became the banks of the river, which had a 3 metre steep elevation from the water, so we...
Delta Downs Expedition 2016 (Part One) by Liz Xanthopoulos
by Liz Xanthopoulos, A visitor to this time “Don’t think about, just go!” was the last thing Hannah said to me before I took a deep breath...
2016 in review
I am sitting in my office in Cairns. When I look out of the window I can see dark clouds hanging in the sky, bringing with them the beginning of the...
The other side of fieldwork
Access the original blog post written for the Save Our Seas Foundation here By Barbara Wueringer One of the goals of my project was to find out if...
The Daintree
access the original blog post for the Save Our Seas Foundation here BY BARBARA WUERINGER, 26 SEPTEMBER 2016 The Daintree River is surrounded by lush...
The saw-less sawfish?
Access the original blog post written by Barbara for the Save Our Seas Foundation here. SOSF PROJECT: SAWFISH SAFEHOUSE BY BARBARA WUERINGER, 17...
Sawfish art work by Sue Ryan
Last week we were fortunate to visit Sue Ryan in her studio near Tomoulin, Far North Queensland. Sue had just finished her sawfish figure. It...
Humble beginnings
Access the original blog post written by Barbara for the Save Our Seas Foundation here BY BARBARA WUERINGER, 23 FEBRUARY 2016 ‘So what do you do?’...
The fate of amputee sawfish
Read more about our recent paper in the press release by Murdoch University, which is copied below....
Media involving SARA and our research!
February 2022: Cosmos Magazine. Old photos provide key details in bid to save sawfish. Link
February 2022: Good news Fraser Coast. Historic photo found at Hervey Bay Museum. Link
June 2022: Cape York NRM. LandsCAPE magazine. Sawfish monitoring raises new concerns. Link
September 2022: Cape York Weekly. Cape’s citizen scientists can help sawfish search. Edition 101, sept 13, 2022. P. 12. Link
October 2022: Cape York Weekly. East coast sawfish find brings joy to researchers. Edition 105 October 11, 2022. P. 2. Link
November 2021: Sawfish research team visit Kowanyama. Kowanyama Project News Issue 6. By Vivian Sinnamon.
October 2021: ABC News Far North. Indigenous rangers, scientists call for change of status for endangered sawfish. Link
October 2021: ABC Queensland Saturday breakfast radio. Rare sawfish find links cultural past with conservation future. Link
September 2021: Radio interview BEW. How to conduct research in croc infested waters. ABC Far North Radio. Mornings with Phil Stanley. Link
August 2021: ABC Wide Bay. People power needed to help bring endangered sawfish back from brink of extinction. Link
August 2021: 7 News Toowoomba. Evening News video. Link
August 2021: Press release by USC. Study seeks photos, sightings to save iconic sawfish. Link
February 2020: Press release by Science in Public. You saw sawfish! Link
October 2019: ABC National. Sawfish used to be plentiful around Australia’s coastline, but their numbers have dropped off a cliff. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-10-17/sawfish-disappearing-queensland-river/11601108
October 2019: The Guardian Australia. Sawfish numbers in global stronghold are dropping, prompting calls for fishing protection. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/17/sawfish-numbers-in-global-stronghold-fall-prompting-calls-for-fishing-protection?
January 2019: ABC Perth, Pictures of sawfish – dead or alive – needed from citizen scientists to help understand decline. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-09/sawfish-trophy-fishing-probed-by-citizen-science-survey/10698468?
January 2019: SBS online. Experts warn Australian sawfish close to dying out. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/experts-warn-australian-sawfish-close-to-dying-out
January 2019: The West, Australian sawfish close to extinction. https://thewest.com.au/news/fishing/australian-sawfish-close-to-extinction-ng-b881068436z
January 2019: SARA & Science in Public press release. Access the press release here.
Win TV FNQ local news January 08, 2019
ABC News on the 24 hr News channel, January 09, 2019
November 2018: ABC News on a fatal shark bite incident in Cid Harbour, Whitsundays, Qld. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-07/queensland-tourism-operator-concern-cid-harbour-shark-attacks/10470960
October 2018: Australian geographic voices experts opinions on shark attacks https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2018/10/experts-weigh-in-on-the-whitsundays-shark-encounters/
September 2017: Dr Wueringer is interviewed for an article on the rescue of 40 sawfish pups in the NT
July 2017: Gallery in Australian Geographic displaying a saw-less sawfish we caught in the same month.
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/08/the-endangered-sawfish/
March 2017: Article in New Scientist on the stealth hunting abilities of sawfish. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2126267-sawfishs-fearsome-snout-evolved-to-be-undetectable-to-prey/
Article in Brisbane times https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/study-of-australian-sawfish-shows-its-weaponised-razoredged-snout-is-a-stealth-killer-20170323-gv4g85.html
Article in Australian Geographic https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2017/03/sawfish-are-the-ultimate-stealth-hunters-study-finds/
August 2014: Article in Australian geographic on the hunting abilities of sawfish https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2014/08/sawfish-uses-snout-to-find-and-stun-prey/
June 2011: Article in National Geographic on the hunting abilities of sawfish. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/06/110616-sawfish-snout-sixth-sense-animals-environment-science/
