Spottail Shark (Carcharhinus sorrah) is a tropical Indo-Pacific species, recorded patchily from South Africa to southern China, and common on continental and insular shelves close inshore (20-50 m), occurring out to 140 m.

Recent research has found that Carcharhinus sorrah occurring in Indonesian and Australian Waters form two distinct populations (Ovenden et al. 2009). One single genetic stock is considered to occur in Australian waters. Map for species distribution in Australia adapted from Last and Stevens (2009).

Australian gillnetters began fishing in northern Australian waters in about 1980, although there was significant fishing from foreign vessels before then, and foreign gillnetting continued until 1986. The Northern Shark Fishery was developed during the 1980s and 1990s, and was transferred to the relevant joint authorities in 1995 (Patterson et al. 2016).

It includes the Northern Territory Offshore Net and Line Fishery, the Queensland Gulf of Carpentaria Inshore Fin Fish Fishery and the Western Australia Joint Authority Northern Shark Fishery (WANSF). The fishery covers waters off Australia’s northern coast, encompassing the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Timor and Arafura seas, Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, and the north-east coast of Western Australia. Regularly taken as utilized bycatch of longlines, gillnets, trawls and other line gear (Patterson et al. 2016).

The primary fishing methods are gillnetting and longlining, and most activity and catch occur in waters off the Northern Territory. Historically, the main commercial species have been blacktip sharks (Australian blacktip—Carcharhinus tilstoni, and common blacktip—C. limbatus), spot–tail shark (C.sorrah) and grey mackerel (Scomberomorus semifasciatus) (Patterson et al. 2016).

The Australian and common blacktip sharks are difficult to differentiate and so have been treated as a species complex, with the assumption that the majority are Australian blacktip, although genetic analyses have challenged this assumption (Patterson et al. 2016).

Currently, annual landings of sharks in northern Australia are significantly smaller than historical catches. Although there is a need to monitor catches in these fisheries, current catch rates are highly unlikely to threaten the Australian population of Spottail Shark, and the species is assessed as Least Concern in these waters (Patterson et al. 2016).