The continued black-market in body parts from vulnerable and endangered sharks, has the potential to cause once common species to become, at least regionally, extinct. A deterrent to the illegal capture of and trade in protected shark species is therefore essential. The sustainability of several commercially important species is likely to be placed under increasing threat without better means of controlling the exploitation of individual species. The development of legally defensible protocols and a dataset of DNA reference samples will provide the WA Department of Fisheries and other regulatory authorities with the tools necessary for enforcing both existing and future management and conservation regulations.

The need for improved species composition data, particularly from bycatch fisheries is recognised in the National Plan Of Action for the conservation and management of sharks (NPOA-sharks). The proposed DNA dataset will provide the basis for fishery management authorities to validate the accuracy of logbook data and determine species composition of catches for which there are currently no catch records (eg. confiscated illegal catches).