by Adrienne Gooden (Co-founder and Science Facilitator, YMB; SARA Volunteer)
In December 2025, The Young Marine Biologists Program collaborated with SARA for a session on sawfish. It was held at the Coff’s Harbour Library and 14 highschool students attended.
One of the things I love most about this program is the people it brings into the room. Our December 2025 session we were incredibly lucky to welcome Dr Barbara Wueringer, founder and science director of Sharks And Rays Australia, to speak to our students about one of Australia’s most endangered species – the sawfish.
We started the session the way we always do, with the students sharing recent encounters with the marine environment sparking conversations about recent weather events, surf sessions, and travel memories.
Dr Barb then took us into the world of sawfish. Sawfish are species of ray known for their unique rostrum or saw that is vital to the survival of the individual. It is a sensory organ, a navigation and hunting tool all at once. But it is also the reason sawfish are so vulnerable. The rostrum was also prized historically and increases the risk of sawfish entanglement in nets, contributing to their continued decline.
As always our sessions have a hands on component and this session saw students contributing to a nationwide database of >3000 sawfish. Using two saws that had been donated to the National Marine Science Centre, Dr Barb walked our students through how to measure and sample rostrums for genetic analysis. Saws are genetic time capsules with information locked inside able to tell us where these animals came from, how populations connected historically, and what we have lost.
A huge thank you to Dr Barb for her time, her passion, and for trusting our students with such important work.
