Shark Fisheries Globally Unsustainable: 100 Million Sharks Die Every Year

Mar. 1, 2013 — The world's shark populations are experiencing significant declines with perhaps 100 million -- or more -- sharks being lost every year, according to a study published this week in Marine Policy.

"Sharks have persisted for at least 400 million years and are one of the oldest vertebrate groups on the planet. However, these predators are experiencing population declines significant enough to cause global concern," explains lead author Boris Worm, professor of biology at Dalhousie.

In the recently published paper, "Global Catches, Exploitation Rates and Rebuilding Options for Sharks," Worm and three other researchers from Dalhousie University teamed up with scientists from the University of Windsor in Canada, as well as Stony Brook University in New York, Florida International University (FIU) in Miami and the University of Miami, to calculate total shark mortality and outline possible solutions to protect the world's shark populations.

"This is a big concern because the loss of sharks can affect the wider ecosystem," said Mike Heithaus, executive director of FIU's School of Environment, Arts and Society and co-author of the paper. "In working with tiger sharks, we've seen that if we don't have enough of these predators around, it causes cascading changes in the ecosystem, that trickle all the way down to marine plants." Such changes can harm other species, and may negatively affect commercial fisheries, Heithaus explains.

Continued: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130301153245.htm

American Samoa ends shark fin trade & shark fishing in coastal waters

Territory now has strongest shark protections in U.S.

November 2012. American Samoa, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean, implemented a series of measures to protect sharks within its waters. Shark fishing is now banned in its territorial waters, and the sale, possession, and distribution of fins and other shark parts, is prohibited.

"Sharks have been an important part of our ocean, reef and cultural environments," said Gov. Togiola T.A. Tulafono. "Their disappearance would be devastating to the environment and our Samoan culture. An ocean without sharks is completely inconceivable to me. Sharks have supported the health of our ocean, our fisheries and our economy, and should remain that way for generations to come. American Samoa is committed to playing a serious role in ensuring that these wonderful animals survive for our future."

Last US Pacific Territory to ban shark fishing
Changes made this week to American Samoa's fishing regulations by the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources support an executive order the governor signed in August. American Samoa is the final U.S. territory in the Pacific to forbid the trade of shark fins. The Northern Mariana Islands and Guam banned the practice in 2011. Hawaii also prohibited the trade of shark fins, in 2010.

"American Samoa, through these important actions, has now closed off the flow of shark fins through the U.S. Pacific islands," said Jill Hepp, director of global shark conservation for the Pew Environment Group. "Pacific island leadership is helping these animals, threatened by overfishing, to keep their place as apex predators. We are very pleased that American Samoa joins the growing chorus of Pacific island voices in support of shark conservation."

At the top of the food chain, sharks are critically important to maintaining balance for marine life. A recently released scientific study showed that only 4 to 8 percent of American Samoa's historic reef shark populations remain. Globally, up to 73 million sharks are killed each year, largely for their fins to supply the demand for shark fin soup.

"Their decline has risks for ocean health, but it's not too late for American Samoa's sharks," said Mike King, director of the Coalition of Coral Reef Lovers. "By taking action to protect the sharks of American Samoa, Samoans not only preserve their natural living resources but the linkage to the ocean that is so important to their heritage, Fa'asamoa, the Samoan way of life."

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/samoa-shark.html

Government to impose new limits on shark fishing

The government plans to require almost all sharks landed by recreational fishermen off the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico to measure at least 8 feet from nose to fork in the tail, a move that some recreational fishermen said will end their sport but that conservationists say is needed to save an imperiled species.

The debate over how best to protect the dusky shark — which can migrate hundreds of miles in a season but whose juveniles return every summer to the mid-Atlantic — highlights the complicated task of recovering shark species.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has prohibited the catch of dusky sharks since 1999, but scientists found its population to be so depleted that it will take 100 years for it to recover.

The dusky shark, which averages nearly 12 feet in length and 400 pounds, takes two decades to reach sexual maturity and has small litters every three years, which makes it vulnerable to overfishing.

The environmental group WildEarth Guardians has petitioned to list the dusky shark under the Endangered Species Act.

Continued:  http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2019705589_sharks18.html?syndication=rss

Sharks in Lake Macquarie killed for ‘thrills’

HAMMERHEAD sharks are being targeted by Lake Macquarie fishermen seeking food and thrills, and a washed-up shark is thought to have been hooked first.

A marine biologist said a hammerhead carcass found on Saturday at Myuna Bay, where another hammerhead beached and died last month, had probably been caught.

‘‘My guess would be that these sharks were killed and possibly dumped,’’ Department of Primary Industries shark biologist Vic Peddemors said.

‘‘I think it’s an incidental mortality rather than a natural mortality.’’

Some lake anglers are targeting hammerheads for their size and prestige.

Several videos of hammerheads in the lake have popped up on YouTube and one shows two men on a boat hooking a shark, reeling it in and letting it go.

Fishe rmans Warehouse, Marks Point, owner Jason Nunn said there was general consensus hammerhead numbers were increasing along with bull and whaler sharks.

‘‘Some [fishers] go out and hook them and let them go, some are taken home for food or trophies and some are released,’’ he said.

He said even a released shark could ingest a hook and die and wash up later.

He said it would be interesting to know if the hammerhead that beached in July had a hook in its stomach.

‘‘It could have been a fish that was released after the fight,’’ Mr Nunn said yesterday.

One YouTube clip shows a hammerhead lurking in what the poster claims is the nearby Eraring Power Station’s outlet.

The station sucks in water to cool itself through inlets designed to divert fish and return them to Myuna Bay. Surrounding water can reach 35degrees.

Dr Peddemors said water that warm would not harm a shark and there was probably no link between the station and the dead hammerheads.

BY TIM CONNELL, PORT STEPHENS REPORTER

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/general/sharks-in-lake-macquarie-killed-for-thrills/2259199.aspx