UNIT 6 ATLANTIC SHARK FISHERIES

INTRODUCTION

	About 350 species of sharks are known worldwide. Of those, 72
frequent waters of the U.S. Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico,
and U.S. Virgin Islands. For many years sharks were fished
moderately and only in limited coastal areas. In recent years,
however, large coastal sharks have been intensively fished over
broad geographic areas. Sharks were first fished primarily for
their livers (for vitamin A) and hides (for leather). Other minor
products were fresh and salted meat, dried fins for Oriental
sharkfin soup, and fish meal. The appearance of low-cost, synthetic
vitamin A ended some of the small shark fisheries in 1950, and
there was little demand for shark flesh or other products in the
United States before 1970. In the 1980's, however, shark has become
popular due to better handling, marketing, promotion, and an
economy favoring low-cost shark over more expensive fish (Fig.
6-1).
	Shark fishery management regulations are stipulated in a shark
fishery management plan developed by the National Marine Fisheries
Service for the Secretary of Commerce.

SPECIES AND STATUS

	Under the Magnuson Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, U.S.
Atlantic sharks were divided into three management groups (Table
6-1): 1)  Large coastal sharks (white, tiger, lemon,
smooth and great hammerhead, basking, whale, blacktip, sandbar,
reef, dusky, spinner, silky, bull, bignose, Galapagos, night,
ragged-tooth, nurse, and scalloped); 2) small coastal sharks
(Atlantic and Caribbean sharpnose, finetooth, blacknose,
bonnethead, and Atlantic angel); and 3) pelagic sharks (longfin and
shortfin mako, blue, porbeagle, thresher, bigeye thresher, oceanic
whitetip, sevengill, sixgill, and bigeye sixgill). 
	Both U.S. recreational and commercial shark fishermen seek coastal
sharks along the Atlantic seaboard. Pelagic sharks are targeted by
tournament anglers, particularly off the Mid-Atlantic states, and
are incidentally caught by swordfish and tuna longliners. The
dockside ex-vessel revenue of the commercial shark fisheries has
averaged more than $7 million annually in recent years.
	Anglers fish for sharks on both tournament and nontournament trips,
the latter being the more prevalent. Nontournament anglers usually
catch small coastal sharks that are generally not targeted by
commercial fisheries. However, commercial and recreational
fishermen can affect the shark fishing of each other. The Gulf of
Mexico shrimp fishery catches and discards many small coastal
sharks (mostly sharpnose). Also, headboat anglers depend on
blacktip sharks, a species seasonally taken by longline and drift
gillnet fishermen. Many southern shark tournament anglers also fish
for the same large coastal species taken by commercial fishermen.
Tournament anglers farther north (Mid-Atlantic states and southern
New 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 1986 about 9% of the
commercial  landings were taken by rod-and-reel fishermen).
	Meanwhile, a mobile longline fishery targets 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 have been 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
snapper-grouper boats, particularly bottom longliners, also land
sharks. Many sharks caught by Gulf shrimp trawlers are discarded at
sea (though fins may be saved), but large valuable sharks are
kept and sold.
	Many sharks are also caught in the pelagic swordfish and tuna
longline fishery. Some sharks are discarded at sea, though certain
species such as shortfin mako are regularly landed owing to their
market value.
	The data available on shark fisheries are very limited. Many
species are landed and classified only as  shark  by fishermen and
dealers in the market. To overcome some of these data deficiencies,
newly developed assessment models were applied to the data
available to generate assessment information by group: Large
coastal sharks are considered overutilized; small coastal sharks
are considered fully utilized. There is insufficient information to
assess the status of pelagic sharks.

ISSUES

	Scientific Information and Adequacy of Assessments
Many species of shark are fished and many are difficult to
distinguish. The market generally does not categorize sharks by
species. This complicates scientific analysis, although assessments
for groups of species have been made. There is a critical lack of
data on shark numbers, biology, distribution, life history, and
harvest. Without such data, it is difficult to assess the status of
particular species.

Management Concerns

	Recreational and commercial fishermen have both voiced concern
about declining shark populations. Because sharks grow and
reproduce slowly, they are very vulnerable to overfishing.

Progress

	A new fishery management plan has been developed by NMFS for sharks
and was implemented in 1993. It regulates commercial and
recreational shark fishing to prevent overfishing, prohibit the
practice of finning, discourage discarding of shark carcasses,
rebuild currently overfished stocks, and improve data collection
and monitoring.