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Dr Colin Simpfendorfer

Principal Research Fellow

BSc (Hons) James Cook University

PhD, James Cook University

Visit: Room DB034-141, Townsville campus

Call: (+61) 7 4781 5287

Fax (+61) 7 4725 4099

Email: colin.simpfendorfer@jcu.edu.au

Research Interests

  • Population biology of sharks and rays

  • Assessment of shark and ray fisheries

  • Conservation biology of sharks and rays

  • Analysis of acoustic monitoring data

  • Habitat use of sharks and rays

  • Fisheries of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area

My research has focused on the elasmobranch fishes (sharks and rays), and has included studies of life history, fisheries assessment, population dynamics, habitat use, conservation biology, parasites, and more. This research has occurred in Queensland (JCU), Western Australia (WA Department of Fisheries) and Florida (Mote Marine Laboratory).

Current Projects

  • Resilency of coral reef fin fish species

  • Sustainability of Queensland’s east coast shark populations

  • Conservation biology of sawfish (Florida and Australia)

  • Satellite tracking of large coastal sharks

Work History

  • 1987 – 1992. Academic Level A, Department of Zoology, James Cook University

  • 1992 – 1998. Senior Research Scientist, Western Australian Department of Fisheries

  • 1998 – 2006. Senior Scientist, Center for Shark Research, Mote Marine Laboratory (Florida, USA)

  • 2006 – current. Principal Research Fellow, Fishing and Fisheries Team, School of Earth and Environmental Science, James Cook University

Selected Publications

Simpfendorfer, CA and Milward, NE. 1993. Utilisation of a tropical bay as a nursery area by sharks of the families Carcharhinidae and Sphyrnidae. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 37:337-345.

Simpfendorfer, CA. 1999. Demographic analysis of the dusky shark fishery in south-western Australia. In, Musick, J.A. (ed), “Life in the Slow Lane: Ecology and Conservation of Long-Lived Marine Animals.” pp 149-160. American Fisheries Society Symposium No 23, Bethesda, Maryland.

Simpfendorfer, CA. 1999. Mortality estimates, and demographic analysis, for the Australian sharpnose shark (Rhizoprionodon taylori) from northern Australia. Fishery Bulletin, 97:978-986.

Simpfendorfer, CA, Donohue, K, and Hall, N. 2000. Stock assessment and risk analysis for the whiskery shark (Furgaleus macki (Whitley)) in south-western Australia. Fisheries Research, 47:1-17.

Simpfendorfer, CA. 2000. Predicting population recovery rates for endangered western Atlantic sawfishes using demographic analysis. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 58:371-377.

Simpfendorfer, CA. 2000. Growth rates of juvenile dusky sharks, Carcharhinus obscurus (Lesueur, 1818), from south-western Australia based on tag-recapture data. Fishery Bulletin, 98:811-822.

Simpfendorfer, CA, Goodreid, AB, and McAuley, RB. 2001. Size, sex and geographic variation in the diet of the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) in Western Australian waters. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 61:37-46.

Simpfendorfer, CA, McAuley, RB, Chidlow J, and Unsworth, P. 2002. Validated age and growth of the dusky shark, Carcharhinus obscurus, from Western Australian waters. Marine and Freshwater Research, 53: 567-573.

Simpfendorfer, CA, Heupel, MR, and Hueter, RE. 2002. Estimation of short-term centers of activity from an array of omnidirectional hydrophones, and its use in studying animal movements. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 59: 23 - 32.

Heupel, MR and Simpfendorfer, CA. 2002. Estimation of survival and mortality of juvenile blacktip sharks, Carcharhinus limbatus, within a nursery area based on telemetry data. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 59: 624-632.

Heupel, MR, Simpfendorfer, CA, and Hueter, RE. 2003. Running before the storm: sharks respond to falling barometric pressure associated with Tropical Storm Gabrielle. Journal of Fish Biology, 63:1357-1363.

Simpfendorfer, CA, and Heupel, MR. 2004. Assessing habitat use and movement. In, “Biology of Sharks and their Relatives”, J Carrier, JE Musick and M Heithaus (eds.), pp 553 – 572. CRC Press, Boca Raton.

Simpfendorfer, CA, Freitas, GG, Wiley, TR, and Heupel MR. 2005. Distribution and habitat partitioning of immature bull sharks ( Carcharhinus leucas ) in a southwest Florida estuary. Estuaries, 28(1): 76-83.

Dudley, SFJ, and Simpfendorfer, CA. 2006. Population status of 14 shark species caught in the protective gillnets off KwaZulu-Natal beaches, South Africa, 1978 – 2003. Marine and Freshwater Research 57:225-240.

Heupel, MR, Carlson, JK, Simpfendorfer, CA. In press. Shark nursery areas: concepts, definition, characterization and assumptions. Marine Ecology Progress Series.