The World Wildlife Fund is attempting to raise $100,000 for a commercial Great Barrier Reef shark fishing licence to prevent it being reactivated.
The WWF claims the previous owners of the licence, which is up for sale, caught more than 500,000kg of shark between 1993 and 2004.
The licence has not been active for shark fishing since 2004 but has been used for line fishing and the WWF want to prevent it being used again to target sharks.
Australia's WWF conservation director Gilly Llewellyn says it's a new approach to save sharks, turtles and dolphins.
"This will save at least 10,000 sharks each year, prevent dugongs, turtles and dolphins being killed as bycatch, and help the reef heal after the worst coral bleaching in its history," she said.
The animal activists say their biggest concern is the hammerhead shark which is reportedly in serious decline along the Great Barrier Reef.
"Hammerhead numbers have crashed in Queensland, possibly by 80 per cent," Ms Llewellyn said.
