In 2008 Seaweek’s theme is "Extinction - a Saw point" highlighting the plight of the declining sawfish.

“Sawfish populations have declined over the years because of pressures imposed on them from fishing and modification of their habitat. Sawfish are vulnerable to most forms of fishing in particular net fisheries as at any size their toothed rostrum is easily entangled in the mesh“

The MESA SW08 working party and MESA state reps are working in partnership with the Northern Gulf Resource Management Group as the official sponsors of Seaweek 2008 .We also thank the additional partners involved in the sourcing and development of material and resources for this website.

Seaweek 2008 will largely be web based to reduce our footprint, so keep your eyes peeled as we develop some great materials. We encourage you all to send in whatever material or links you might be aware of to support the sawfish theme, that may be able to be incorporated into our resources.

Objectives

• increase awareness of conservation issues and the steps taken by Australian fishing industry to mitigate interactions with the endangered sawfish;
• showcase innovative technologies used by fishers to monitor and better understand sawfish biology and behaviour;
• continue to encourage research and investment into new technologies and best fishing practices that help mitigate interactions with protected species.