William White

My research is focused on the ecology and taxonomy of sharks and rays in the Indo-Pacific region. The majority of my research in the last 15 years has been on shark and ray fisheries in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. My first taste of working with sharks and rays was during my PhD in Shark Bay, Western Australia. This led to my involvement in a number of projects on shark and ray fisheries in Indonesia. Over a 12 year period, I conducted 31 surveys of Indonesian fish markets. The Indonesian work proved difficult as many of the species we encountered were new to science. This paved the way for the start of my taxonomic career. Since 2005, I have described more than 50 new species of sharks and rays, published 3 books and more than 100 journal articles. I have supervised a number of Honours, Masters and PhD students from Thailand, Australia and Papua New Guinea. I began a research project on the sharks and rays of Papua New Guinea in 2014 which has already resulted in the discovery of a number of new shark and ray species and rediscovery of a number of shark species.

May 2016