Shark and rays will be better protected from inhumane treatment and overfishing across South Australia following new rules to be brought in from Monday.
It follows several instances of dead eagle ray carcasses left on Adelaide beaches over the past few years, sometimes in a state of "mutilation".
In January, a large eagle ray was found at Brighton Beach with its wings cut off.
Beachgoers were also upset after an eagle ray was left at Brighton in 2021 with two fillets cut from its body and its tail cut off.
"Commercial and recreational fishers will be prohibited from the intentional damage and mutilation of non-noxious aquatic resources that aren't being retained," a state government spokesperson said.
There were also reports of sharks and rays having their fins or tails cut off before being thrown back into the water alive, and hooks and long lengths of line being left in an animal's mouth.
The government spokesperson said an expiation fee of $315 applied, with a maximum of $20,000 after multiple offences and court proceedings.
A stingray carcass found on Seacliff Beach in early January. (Supplied: Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries)
Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Clare Scrivens said the changes followed consultation with stakeholders after the community raised concerns about the treatment of sharks and rays.
"The ethical and humane treatment of sharks and rays is vital to their survival and conservation and of interest to the broader community," she said.
Fishing ban for some species
The rules will also prohibit both recreational and commercial fishers from taking specified endangered or critically endangered species, while some will be subject to a bag limit of one.
Recreational fishers will have a combined bag limit of two for other shark and ray species, such as southern eagle rays, smooth stingrays, black stingrays, southern fiddler ray and western shovelnose rays, which will also be subject to new size limits.
Prohibited species include:
Whitefin swell shark, oceanic whitetip shark, green sawfish, greeneye spurdog, southern dogfish, basking shark, grey nurse shark, all stingaree species of genus Urolophus (including coastal stingaree) and all skate species of genus Dipturus or Dentiraja (including the grey skate).
Bag limits of one for:
Common thresher shark, shortfin mako shark, Melbourne skate, broadnose sevengill shark, hammerhead shark, smooth stingray, black stingray, bigeye thresher shark, bronze whaler shark, dusky whaler shark and school shark.
A ban on fishing for protected white sharks remains in place, along with existing maximum hook and metropolitan shark fishing restrictions.
Recfish SA supports changes
Recfish SA deputy chairperson Barry Brown said the inappropriate handling of sharks and rays, including cutting off their barbs, was unacceptable.
A dead stingray found with stab marks and its wings cut off at Seacliff Beach in early January. (Supplied: Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries)
"We were highly supportive of any moves that discouraged that practice and prevented it from happening," he said.
"It's only a very small minority that do it, but like anything in life, you have to bring in regulations for a small minority.
"The majority of sharks and rays that are caught are actually released. A critical part of it is training people to safely and effectively release this species."
Mr Brown also supported the size limit for rays.
This filleted stringray was left on the beach at Brighton in March 2021. (Supplied: Rick)
He said the large number of prohibited species would not "impact recreational fishing to any great extent in SA".
"There was a plan initially that they wanted to ban thresher and mako sharks and we said, 'No, that's not a good idea. They're still a popular species. People don't catch a lot of them'," Mr Brown said.
"There's only a bag limit of one but we're glad to see they're not being prohibited."
Seacliff Beach in Adelaide is known for a population of eagle rays that can be friendly around humans. (ABC Radio Adelaide: Malcolm Sutton)
Sarah Cameron from The Shark and Ray Collective said South Australia was now "leading Australia with these conservation regulations", which would help protect a population of eagle rays at Seacliff and Brighton.
"These animals are coming in, people feed them, and people are noticing them more," she told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"People are sharing this kind of stuff, and we want this wildlife and these marine populations to go back up.
"They're slow growing and it takes them a longer time to get to where they can actually reproduce."