Shark Interactions With Directed and Incidental Fisheries in the Northeast Pacific Ocean: Historic and Current Encounters, and Challenges for Shark Conservation.

Abstract

For over 100 years, sharks have been encountered, as either directed catch or incidental catch, in commercial fisheries throughout the Northeast Pacific Ocean. A long-standing directed fishery for North Pacific Spiny Dogfish (Squalus suckleyi) has occurred and dominated shark landings and discards. Other fisheries, mainly for shark livers, have historically targeted species including Bluntnose Sixgill Shark (Hexanchus griseus) and Tope Shark (Galeorhinus galeus). While incidental catches of numerous species have occurred historically, only recently have these encounters been reliably enumerated in commercial and recreational fisheries. In this chapter we present shark catch statistics (directed and incidental) for commercial and recreational fisheries from Canadian waters (off British Columbia), southern US waters (off California, Oregon, and Washington), and northern US waters (off Alaska). In total, 17 species of sharks have collectively been encountered in these waters. Fishery encounters present conservation challenges for shark management, namely, the need for accurate catch statistics, stock delineation, life history parameter estimates, and improved assessments methods for population status and trends. Improvements in management and conservation of shark populations will only come with the further development of sound science-based fishery management practices for both targeted and incidental shark fisheries.