Australia

Scientists identified two distinct populations of white shark at the east and west of Bass Strait in Australian waters, prompting researchers to suggest the huge fish may need a regional conservation plan.

In what Australian officials called an outrageous fraud, Japanese fishers probably used a series of disguises for the overcatch and international investigations have found.

The fishers described southern bluefin tuna as a different species and evaded any inspection on shore, underreported the amount of the fish they caught, and imported it as different tuna either transhipped at sea from foreign vessels or in containers. In a review that the Japanese government has vetoed from public release, investigators found the fraud extended to consumer markets.

After a seven-year campaign by Australian Federal and State governments, Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef has been awarded World Heritage status at UNESCO’s June meeting in Paris. Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke heralds the inscription as a major achievement. “The Ningaloo coast’s striking land and seascape tells a dramatic story about the formation of oceans, movement of continents and changes in our climate,” he said.

The review of the handfishes brings the family to 14 known species – six found only in Tasmania and one known from only one specimen possibly collected in Tasmania by early European explorers, yet not recorded since. It also deepens concerns about the declining populations of some handfishes.

Commercial clearance divers were expected to survey the wreck once it had settled later on Sunday to ensure all the charges had detonated.

Moorings will then be installed by Parks Victoria before the government opens the site for divers, in about a month's time.

Built in 1978 and launched two years later, the frigate served Australia for 24 years before it was decommissioned in 2005.

It served in the Middle East following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1992 and helped evacuate Australians from Jakarta in 1998 during the student riots that deposed Indonesian president Suharto.