Media Release Fisheries

Marine conservationists support Indigenous Rangers on unique sawfish rescue missions

September 23, 2021

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has begun an exciting new partnership with the Northern Land Council’s Malak Malak Rangers, and Charles Darwin University (CDU) to support a long-running and unique program to locate and rescue Critically Endangered juvenile largetooth sawfish in the Northern Territory.

The Malak Malak Rangers have been undertaking annual patrols of their floodplain country around the Daly River for the last 10 years in the late dry season as floodwaters recede and waterholes dry up. The sawfish they find trapped in the drying billabongs are carefully moved into the main river channel so they do not run out of water and die in the evaporating pools.

This vital work has so far seen the Malak Malak Rangers rescue 75 largetooth sawfish – a significant number for a species assessed as Critically Endangered in Australia (1).

The new partnership will support the rescues and the work of CDU scientist Dr Peter Kyne to monitor the health and survival rates of the rescued sawfish.

Senior Malak Malak Ranger Aaron Green rescuing a sawfish from the billabong to get it ready for transport to the Daly River

Aaron Green, Senior Malak Malak Ranger said: “It is incredibly rewarding knowing that we’re actually helping the sawfish survive, especially because of the fish being an endangered species. To help out as many as we can each year from dying in a stranded billabong is really good.

“I don’t think many people know that they are actually an endangered species. Some people still think that they’re out there in the wild in big numbers.”

AMCS shark scientist Dr Leonardo Guida, who accompanied the Rangers on a recent rescue operation, said the juvenile sawfish faced multiple threats from fishing, water extraction, and the climate crisis.

“Northern Australia is one of the last strongholds left on the planet for sawfish so we are proud and delighted to be partnering with the Rangers and CDU on these important missions,” said Dr Guida.

“The Top End is a global ‘lifeboat’ for four of the world’s five sawfish – dwarf, green, largetooth and narrow – but even here they still face threats from fishing practices like gillnetting, water extraction from rivers to support industry, and the impacts of global heating.”

Sawfish being measured prior to release

In 2000, the largetooth sawfish was first listed under national environmental laws as ‘Vulnerable’ (2). Recognising the increased extinction risk due to these threats and the advancement in scientific knowledge, AMCS nominated the largetooth sawfish for uplisting from ‘Vulnerable’ to ‘Endangered’.  A decision on the uplisted status is due in October 2022 (3).

Dr Guida said: “At it stands, our national environmental laws are failing to both adequately protect sawfish, and assist their recovery. In over two decades, we’ve witnessed the on-going declines of sawfish species. Our nature laws need to be reformed, modernised and strengthened to protect and rebuild Australia’s endangered species and correct our appalling extinction record.”

Dr Kyne said: “The rescue missions are the helping hand that sawfish need in the Daly River. This unique sawfish annual patrol and rescue mission is undertaken nowhere else on earth.”

Notes to editors

Young largetooth sawfish (‘pups’) are born at river mouths and spend the first 4-5 years of life in freshwater rivers and floodplain billabongs before migrating back to the ocean. They’ve been found inland >500 km from the coast.

References

1. https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/node/4406
2. https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=60756
3. https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/e0a90020-a411-4508-adac-53758c304de1/files/2020-finalised-priority-assessment-list.pdf