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This cache is an educational cache placed to give people a better idea of some of the fish species found in the waters around the area. This cache is placed next to a walking trail it offers nice views and has access to a beach nearby. This one is the bronze whaler. It is caught in local waters around the area. It is a prized catch for recreational fishers as a good sport fish and also as a good table fish. Happy caching. Bronze Whaler Carcharhinus brachyurus The copper shark, bronze whaler, or narrowtooth shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus) is a species of requiem shark, family Carcharhinidae, and the only member of its genus found mostly at temperate latitudes. It is distributed in a number of separate populations in the northeastern and southwestern Atlantic, off southern Africa, in the northwestern and eastern Pacific, and around Australia and New Zealand, with scattered reports from equatorial regions. This species can be found from brackish rivers and estuaries, to shallow bays and harbors, to offshore waters 100 m (330 ft) deep or more. Females are found apart from males for most of the year, and conduct seasonal migrations. A large species reaching 3.3 m (11 ft) long, the copper shark is difficult to distinguish from other large requiem sharks. It is characterized by its narrow, hook-shaped upper teeth, lack of a prominent ridge between the dorsal fins, and plain bronze coloration. Feeding mainly on cephalopods, bony fishes, and other cartilaginous fishes, the copper shark is a fast-swimming predator that often hunts in large groups, utilizing their numbers to their advantage. Off South Africa, this species associates closely with the annual sardine run, involving millions of southern African pilchard (Sardinops sagax). Like other requiem sharks, it is viviparous, with the developing embryos mainly nourished through a placental connection formed from the depleted yolk sac. Females bear litters of 7 to 24 pups every other year in coastal nursery areas, after a gestation period of 12 or perhaps as long as 21 months. It is extremely slow-growing, with males and females not reaching maturity until 13–19 and 19–20 years of age respectively. While not noted as being especially dangerous to humans, the copper shark has been responsible for a number of non-fatal attacks, particularly on spear fishers and bathers. This species is valued by commercial and recreational fisheries throughout its range, and utilized as food. It is very susceptible to population depletion due to its low growth and reproductive rates, and its numbers are believed to have declined in some areas. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as Near Threatened. The copper shark is often caught by recreational anglers. Though large and powerful, the copper shark is not particularly aggressive towards humans unless in the presence of food, and is thus not regarded as especially dangerous. However, it has been known to harass spear fishers in an attempt to steal catches, and has also bitten several bathers in Australia, where it is abundant. As of May 2009, the International Shark Attack File listed 33 attacks on people and boats by the copper shark, 17 of them unprovoked and none fatal. However, witnesses attributed a fatal attack on September 2011 in Bunker Bay, Western Australia to a copper shark. Like many large, active sharks, this species adapts poorly to captivity; it tends to bump into the sides of its enclosure, and the resulting abrasions then become infected with often fatal consequences. Commercial fisheries for the copper shark exist off New Zealand, Australia (though the "bronze whaler fishery" of Western Australia actually takes mostly dusky sharks), South Africa, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico, and China; it also contributes to the bycatch of other commercial fisheries across its range. This species is caught in gillnets and on bottom longlines, and to a much lesser extent in bottom trawls and on pelagic longlines. The meat is sold for human consumption. The copper shark is also popular with recreational fishers in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico and California, predominantly by anglers but also by bowfishers and gillnetters. In New Zealand, it is the Carcharhinus species most frequently caught by sport fishers and sustains a small, summer recreational fishery in northern North Island, that mainly captures pregnant and post-partum females and for the most part practices tag and release. A tag and release program is also practiced in Namibia. Conservation The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the copper shark as Near Threatened worldwide, noting that its long maturation time and low reproductive rate render it highly susceptible to fishing depletion. Regionally, the IUCN has listed this species under Least Concern off Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, where fisheries are generally well-managed; the local copper shark population for each of those three countries is contained almost entirely within their respective Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Reported catches by New Zealand have steadily declined from a peak of 40 tons in 1995/96 to 20 tons 2001/02, though it is uncertain whether this reflects a genuine decline or changing fishing habits. In the eastern Pacific, the copper shark is rare and little fishery information is available, leading to an assessment of Data Deficient. However, catch declines across all shark and ray species have been documented in the heavily-fished Gulf of California. Off East Asia, the copper shark has been assessed as Vulnerable; though species-specific data is unavailable, shark populations overall have been decimated in the region. The number of large adults have been too low to sustain targeted fisheries since the 1970s, and most of the current shark catch consists of small juveniles. Additional threats to this species include the degradation and destruction of its coastal nurseries from development, pollution, and aquaculture, mortality from shark nets used to protect beaches in South Africa and Australia, and persecution by fish farmers in southern Australia.
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