Point Peron Scalloped hammerhead
Scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) are legally allowed to be fished within the Shoalwater Marine Park. Up to three per person per day, despite their endangered status according to the ICUN. Photo credit: Heidi Bruce.

Critically endangered hammerhead shark populations throughout the Point Peron region continue to decline despite conservation efforts since 2019.

For the past seven years, University of Western Australia scientists have used drones and underwater cameras to monitor the scalloped hammerhead population.

UWA ecologist Dr Naima Andrea-Lopez said monitoring of the shark aggregations and behaviors has revealed a decrease in the shark population by two-thirds since 2019.

“We were seeing 60 scallop hammerheads in a single drone frame in 2019 and now we see around 20,” Dr Lopez said.

Point Peron, 50 km south of Perth, has been identified as a breeding ground for young hammerheads, which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature internationally declared to be an “Important Sharks and Rays area” in 2025.

Despite these findings, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development deny shark numbers are a problem in WA.

“Scalloped hammerheads are critically endangered at the global level, but in Western Australia, the stock is fine,” a DPIRD spokesman said.

The department argued that shark populations are reviewed as a whole rather than stocks at individual sites.

Dr Lopez says her team has noticed the sharks moving further south as water temperatures continue to warm, a consequence of climate change.

“We know they are critically endangered, which is the step before extinction, so identifying these spots (nurseries) is super important, because otherwise we are just doing blank management,” Dr Lopez said.

“By knowing where the nursery is, you can have more strategic conversation management in place.”

She says that the research is important to allow government agencies to collaborate effectively to better conserve and manage shark species.

Dr Lopez has now teamed up with volunteers to create a citizen science app, called Hammerhead Hub, to harness community support and produce better protection of endangered sharks.

“I’m trying to get the spatial and temporal information from the local community to then mix it and combine it with our research so that we can inform management,” Dr Lopez said.

“I feel that trying to use one of the other is not powerful enough for what we’re trying to do, which is, at this point, unfortunately, trying to save the species from extinction.”