1. Natural History of Sharks, Skates, and Rays
Conservation & Management
MARE 394
Dr. Turner
Summer 2008

2. Fisheries Management
Involves regulating when, where, how, and how much people fish to ensure that people will be able to fish in the future
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (also known as NMFS or NOAA Fisheries Service) is the Federal Government agency responsible for fisheries management in the United States

3. You Down With EEZ
Law Of the Sea – established 200-mile-wide Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) – granting coastal nations exclusive rights with respect to natural resources

4. US EEZ
Waters 3 to 200 miles offshore (or 9 to 200 miles offshore in western Florida and Texas)

5. US EEZ
International shortages and disputes over fishing rights were solved the establishment of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a 200-mile national fishing zone
Actually led to overfishing by U.S. domestic fishing fleets

6. Western Pacific EEZ

7. Fisheries Management
Federal fisheries management in the United States is driven primarily by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA)
Set up a democratic form of fisheries management in which stakeholders of fisheries resources held important roles in their overall management

8. Magnuson-Stevens
Governs the conservation and management of ocean fishing
Establishes exclusive U.S. management authority over all fishing within the EEZ
Foreign fishing within these areas prohibited unless permitted - only with reciprocity to U.S. fishing vessels
Establishes 8 Regional Fishery Management Councils responsible for management plans

9. Magnuson-Stevens National Standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Act
Conservation and management measures shall:
(1) Prevent overfishing while achieving optimum yield
(2) Be based upon the best scientific information available
(3) Manage individual stocks as a unit throughout their range, to the extent practicable; interrelated stocks shall be managed as a unit or in close coordination
(4) Not discriminate between residents of different states; any allocation of privileges must be fair and equitable
(5) Where practicable, promote efficiency, except that no such measure shall have economic allocation as its sole purpose

10. Magnuson-Stevens
(6) Take into account and allow for variations among and contingencies in fisheries, fishery resources, and catches
(7) Minimize costs and avoid duplications, where practicable
(8) Take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities to provide for the sustained participation of, and minimize adverse impacts to, such communities (consistent with conservation requirements)
(9) Minimize bycatch or mortality from bycatch
(10) Promote safety of human life at sea

11. In Hawai‘i
Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council – (WPRFMC)
Decision-making body to develop and recommend specific management measures
Fishery management plans (FMP), subject to approval and implementation by NOAA Fisheries

12. Shark Legislation Shark Finning Protection Act – 2002
- amendment to MSA to prohibit and person:
1) aboard a US vessel from finning a shark
2) possessing shark fins aboard a US vessel w/out the carcass
3) landing fins w/out carcass
4) from a foreign vessel w/in US EEZ from landing, possessing, or shipping fins w/out carcass
5) selling or purchasing shark fins taken in volation

13. Shark Finning Protection Act
Aims are to:
1) prevent unsustainable levels of shark catch due to demand for shark fins
2) prevent waste of shark meat
Led to localized regulations by states or Regional Fishery Councils

14. Shark Protection in Hawai‘i
Observer program – both swordfish & tuna
100% coverage shallow-setting swordfish
20% coverage deep-setting tuna

15. Shark Protection in Hawai‘i
To most fishermen in Hawai‘i – sharks are a nuisance/not desirable as they:
1) wreck gear
2) are not very marketable – only mako & thresher (meat or fins)
3) risk of injury
4) risk of overfishing
5) negative stigma
6) tainting of catch in hold - urea

16. Fishing Techniques
Purse seine
Bottom trawl
Gill net
Longline

17. Bycatches and Discards
“Do yourself a favor; don't turn around,” – Keep America Beautiful
Native American
The aim of most fishers is to capture species that have financial or energetic value – target species
Can become part of the catch known at incidental catch
Target species are often associated with non-target species (organisms not intended catch of that fishery)

19. All Longlines not Equal

20. International Regulations
Few countries (Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, United States) have fishery management plans for shark fisheries
International cooperation and coordination of existing and development of new shark
management plans are needed
Wide range of shark distributions require cooperation, assessments, and agreements to understand and manage sharks sustainably

21. International Regulations
No international management mechanisms effectively addressing the capture of sharks
Number of international bodies:
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)
Initiated efforts to encourage member countries to collect information about shark catches

22. International Regulations
International management initiatives:
Guided by:
Atlantic Tunas Convention Act
Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks

23. International Regulations
Ninth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) adopted a Resolution on the Biological and Trade Status of Sharks, requesting that:
(1) The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other international fisheries management organizations establish programs on shark species
(2) all nations utilizing and trading specimens of shark species cooperate with FAO and other international fisheries management organizations

24. International Regulations
FAO Committee on Fisheries: develop Guidelines for a Plan of Action for the improved conservation and management of sharks
International Plan of Action for the Conservation
and Management of Sharks (IPOA)
Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries: encompasses all elasmobranch fisheries (commercial and recreational)
- calls on all member nations to implement IPOA through own national plan

25. Got Sharks? Year #Caught Shark Catch from Hawai‘i Longline Data
#Retained
Fins only
Whole sharks
%Retained
%Finned
1994
114,656
98,119
15,374
1,163
14.4
13.4
1995
101,292
67,760
32,842
690
33.1
32.4
1996
100,992
57,254
43,109
629
43.3
42.7
1997
85,838
36,496
48,552
790
57.5
56.6
1998
99,919
39,062
60,083
774
60.9
60.1
1999
87,576
29,308
57,286
982
66.5
65.4
2004
74,917
71,857
3,060
4.1

26. Changing Attitudes

27. Changing Latitudes