. . . Atlantic Shark Fisheries 



40 



Table 6-1.— Recent average, 

 current potential, and long-term 

 potential yields in metric tons (t), 

 and status of utilization for 

 Atlantic sharks. The LTPY, CPY, 

 and RAY for the unit equals the 

 sum of the species' LTPY's, CPY's, 

 and RAY's. Where the species' 

 LTPY is unknown, the species' 

 CPY is substituted in the sum. If 

 the species' CPY is unknown, the 

 species' RAY is substituted. 



' 198&90 average. 



'includes sandbar, reef, blacktip. dusky, spinner, silky, bull, bgnose, Galapagos, night, tiger, lemon, ragged tooth, nurse, scalloped, 



smooth and great hammerhead, whale, basking, and white sharks. 



includes Atlantic and Caribbean sharpnose. finetooth, blacknose, bonnethead, and Atlantic angel sharks. 



4 Almost all of the small coastal shark yield is caught as bycatch In the Gulf shrimp fishery and discarded at sea 



includes longfin and shortfin mako, blue, porbeagle, thresher, bigeye thresher, oceanic whiteti p, sevengill, sixgill, and bigeye sixgill 



sharks 



SPECIES AND STATUS 



taken by commercial fishermen. Tourna- 

 ment anglers further north (Mid-Atlantic 

 states and southern Mew England) fish for 

 shortfin mako and blue sharks that are 

 caught incidentally by large pelagic long- 

 line Fisheries. In another twist, sharks taken 

 by anglers along the Atlantic and Gulf 

 coasts are often sold to commercial fish 

 buyers (in 1 986 about 9% of the "commer- 

 cial" landings were taken by rod-and-reel 

 fishermen). 



Meanwhile, a mobile longline fishery tar- 

 gets large coastal sharks in both Atlantic 

 and Gulf waters, taking several species 

 important to anglers. Fish buyers prefer 

 sharks of 15-50 pounds (dressed weight), 

 but larger sharks may be killed just for 



their fins. 



Other boats use gill nets, including drift 

 gill nets, for blacktip shark near shore in 

 late summer and early autumn. Gulf snap- 

 per-grouper boats, particularly bottom 

 longliners, also land sharks. Many sharks 

 caught by Gulf shrimp trawlers are dis- 

 carded at sea (though fins may be saved), 

 but large valuable sharks are kept and 

 sold. 



Many sharks are also caught in the pe- 

 lagic swordfish and tuna longline fishery. 

 Worth little or nothing, most of these 

 sharks are discarded at sea, though 

 shortfin mako are regularly landed owing 

 to their market value. 



ISSUES 



Recreational and commercial fishermen 

 have both voiced concern about declining 

 shark populations. Sharks live 30-40 

 years or more, they grow and reproduce 

 slowly, and therefore they are very vulner- 

 able to overutilization. Finning, a common 

 commercial fishing practice of removing 



fins from sharks and discarding the rest of 

 the shark overboard, has been criticized. 

 Another problem is a critical lack of data 

 on shark numbers, biology, distribution, 

 life history, and harvest. Without this data, 

 it is difficult to address shark problems. 



