Shark-ology: Dive into the Science of Sharks

Beginning with a fun and engaging demonstration, Amy will use real specimens, video snippets and the help of volunteers from the audience to explore sharks’ extraordinary adaptations, the diversity of species and habitats, their importance to marine ecosystems and ways you can be 'shark smart' in our beautiful oceans and waterways.

Kids will then be invited to jump onto the stage to the handle jaw specimens on display and ask Amy all their sharpest shark questions

Amy Smoothey is part of the Shark Research Group at the Cronulla Fisheries Research Centre of Excellence. Amy attained her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2008 for her research on the ecology of harvested turban snails on intertidal and subtidal rocky reefs. She has over 8 years experience in researching invertebrates and vertebrates in coastal and estuarine environments of south-eastern Australia.

Her research interests have focused on understanding, through the use of carefully designed experiments, the processes (e.g. movement-patterns) that cause and maintain patterns of animals’ distributions and abundance in habitats. Amy joined NSW DPI in 2003 where she worked, on a casual basis, until 2009, on various recreational angling research projects. More recently, Amy has coordinated research projects to understand aspects of the biology and ecology of commercially and recreationally harvested sharks in estuaries and coastal waters of NSW. This research will provide scientific-based guidelines for minimising the risk of shark attacks within estuaries such as Sydney Harbour, as well as, some of the necessary information to ensure species in NSW are effectively managed in an ecologically sustainable way.