CSIRO-audio-50s-RichPillans-CSIRO-long

We're attaching satellite tags to whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef. We do this to get a better understanding of their dive behaviour and their movements. We’re also collecting DNA samples. This information will hopefully tell us how old whale sharks are. And it's the first time in the world that this technology has been used on any fish or shark. Knowing how old an animal is, is a critical piece of information for us to be able to estimate how many there are within a population. The work that we're doing at Ningaloo is part of a long-term study to understand, better understand, how the ecosystem at Ningaloo works. It includes shallow reefs, deep reefs, as well as tagging things like turtles, tiger sharks and reef sharks. And it’s basically about trying to enhance our knowledge of the world’s oceans.