What we're up to 

• Ongoing in 2025: The F&F lab continue their work on the PADI Global Shark and Ray Census project. Read the project overview HERE. 

• September 2025 

  • The lab held its Annual Strategy Review Workshop at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, an inspiring venue for reflecting on our progress and planning future directions.

• August 2025 

  • Our lab held a multi-day writing retreat on Magnetic Island, made possible by a writing grant we were awarded to support the completion of our upcoming publication.

• July 2025 

  • Andrew Chin and Mina Hatayama head to Palawan, Philippines to develop our shark and ray conservation and research capacity in Asia with 30 shark and ray research and conservation specialists from across Asia to expand conservation, leadership, and management, data visualisation, and tagging skills.

  • Mick Grant, is featured in Beyond Jaws Podcast. Watch Discovering River Sharks and Sawfish in Papua New Guinea here.

  • Lab alumni, Aliah Banchik, is featured in Beyond Jaws Podcast. Watch All The Sharks Netflix: Aliah Banchik Shares About Her Career and Stories from the Shark Game Show here.

• June 2025 

  • The Fish and Fisheries Lab brokers a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between JCU and the Maldives National University to help enhance collaboration and support between these two organisations.

  • Lab students and staff attend and present research at Oceania Chondrichthyan Society Conference in Sunshine Coast.

  • Lab students and staff attend and present research at Indo-Pacific Fish Conference in Taipei, Taiwan.

• May 2025 

  • Andrew Chin and Vinay Udyawer ran shark tagging & telemetry workshops in Thailand to build critical collaborations and capacity in the Asian region.

  • Eva McClure joins the lab as a Research Fellow.

  • Mina Hatayama successfully completed her PhD Confirmation of Candidature.

  • Mick Grant and Niel Hutchinson to attend a Population Viability Analysis workshop on the Critically Endangered Bowmouth Guitarfish being held in Singapore, with fellow lab Adjunct’s Cassandra Rigby and Rima Jabado.

  • Mick Grant visited JCU’s Singapore campus to explore collaborative research potential with Neil Hutchinson and gave a seminar on global impacts of fish maw trade.

• April 2025 

  • Mick Grant back from two months of teaching three subjects in Vanuatu at the National University of Vanuatu: Human Dimensions, Introduction to Sustainability, and Natural Resource Management.

  • Faqih Akbar Alghozali was a guest on the Save Our Seas podcast where he discusses epaulette sharks’ ability to walk on land.  You can listen to the episode HERE.

  • The lab’s contribution to a decade-long collaboration project has resulted in Seychelles establishing Marine Protected Areas over 30% of its oceans. Learn more HERE.

• March 2025 

  • Melissa Ciampaglia’s abstract for the International Pacific Fisheries Conference in Taiwan has been accepted. Her talk will be the only social science talk during the conference.

  • Lab assisted in the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation workshop in Townsville and Brisbane where fishers discussed the ongoing issue of shark depredation in Australian fisheries​

• February 2025 ​

  • We say sad goodbyes to Ana Barbosa Martins who is leaving Townsville to join South Australia Fisheries as Fisheries Scientist.  Ana will still be connected to the lab.  We are happy for Ana and wish her the best.

  • Vinay Udyawer joins the lab.

• January 2025

  • The lab welcomes mPhil student Faqih Akbar Alghozali, and master’s students Amaya Berge, Caitlin Dudzik, and Alexa Hoffman.

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