Australian Grey Nurse Sharks (Carcharias taurus) are one of the country’s most recognisable and misunderstood marine predators. With their protruding teeth, bulky shape, and slow, deliberate movements, they look every inch the “dangerous shark” of myth and media. Yet the truth is completely different. The Grey Nurse Shark is a remarkably placid, slow-moving species — a gentle giant that poses almost no threat to divers or swimmers.
Once common along Australia’s temperate coastlines, Grey Nurse Sharks have suffered a dramatic decline over the past 50 years. Fear-driven persecution in the 1960s and 70s, combined with bycatch, shark control programs and the species’ extremely slow reproductive rate, pushed the east-coast population to the brink of extinction. Today, the East Coast Grey Nurse Shark is listed as Critically Endangered, while the separate West Coast population is classified as Vulnerable.
Despite these grim labels, there is real hope. Recent monitoring programs indicate a slow but measurable recovery in some regions. Protected aggregation sites — such as Wolf Rock in Queensland, Magic Point in New South Wales, and several key gutters off the NSW mid-coast — have become focal points for conservation and research efforts. These sites are also among the best places in Australia to dive with Grey Nurse Sharks, allowing visitors a rare opportunity to see this iconic species in its natural habitat.
For underwater photographers and divers, few encounters are as memorable as drifting quietly along a sandy gutter and coming face to face with a large Grey Nurse. Their ability to glide effortlessly in surge, circle slowly within caves, or hold station in currents makes them superb subjects — provided you follow responsible interaction guidelines.
This guide explores the biology, behaviour, history, decline and ongoing conservation of Australian Grey Nurse Sharks, along with where to see them, how to dive with them responsibly, and why this species has become a symbol of marine conservation in Australia.
Australian Grey Nurse Sharks
The Grey Nurse Shark
Grey Nurse Persecution & Conservation
Photographing Grey Nurse Sharks
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