>>On a steamy night in tropical far north Queensland, Barbara Wueringer and her team climb aboard their 4.5-metre boat on the Norman River.<<

>>Ripples from a buoy keeping the net afloat are cause for excitement, but again tonight they go home without seeing any sawfish.

It’s the same story every night on the 14-day survey, and they’re forced to concede that this trip won’t yield any precious data on one of Australia’s most unique and threatened species.<<

>>“On a global scale these species are on the brink of extinction outside of Australia,” Dr Kyne said.

“So Australia and to a lesser extent New Guinea, are sort of a global refuge now. We call it “lifeboat Australia” — for these species where they’re either extinct or on the verge of extinction outside of Australia.”<<

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-10-17/sawfish-disappearing-queensland-river/11601108

PermeateFree said:

>>On a steamy night in tropical far north Queensland, Barbara Wueringer and her team climb aboard their 4.5-metre boat on the Norman River.<<

>>Ripples from a buoy keeping the net afloat are cause for excitement, but again tonight they go home without seeing any sawfish.

It’s the same story every night on the 14-day survey, and they’re forced to concede that this trip won’t yield any precious data on one of Australia’s most unique and threatened species.<<

>>“On a global scale these species are on the brink of extinction outside of Australia,” Dr Kyne said.

“So Australia and to a lesser extent New Guinea, are sort of a global refuge now. We call it “lifeboat Australia” — for these species where they’re either extinct or on the verge of extinction outside of Australia.”<<

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-10-17/sawfish-disappearing-queensland-river/11601108

They are certainly rare now. Everywhere. This is true for large freshwater fish in general, but sawfish even more so.

Although sawfish and sawsharks look similar, they are not all that closely related. Sawfish are more coosely related to the rays.