Project number: 1997-303
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $9,000.00
Principal Investigator: Terence I. Walker
Organisation: Agriculture Victoria
Project start/end date: 1 May 1997 - 18 Sep 2000
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Publication of information on management and assessment of the world’s shark fisheries and descriptions of these fisheries are very limited compared with that for scalefish, crustacean and shellfish fisheries.

Sharks are often characterised as long-lived, slow-growing and producing few offspring. In addition to the knowledge of the peculiarities of shark biology, experience of declining catch rates in several shark fisheries and the frequently made assumption that sharks have direct stock-recruitment relationships have led to doubts about whether sharks can be harvested sustainably.

Stocks of established shark fisheries are said to decline before sufficient data become available for stock assessment (Compagno 1990). The few attempts at assessing shark stocks have produced questionable results because of insufficient data or the use of models incorporating invalid assumptions (Anderson 1990). In addition, it should be noted that of the four major publications that relate to shark fisheries management and assessment listed under B2 Background, only the papers presented in Pepperell (1992) were rigorously refereed through the international scientific review system.

The project outlined in this application will provide a collection of internationally reviewed fishery assessment and management papers on the shark fisheries of Australia and other parts of the world. This will contribute to further enhancing the reputation of Australia in the fields of shark fishery management and assessment.

References

Anderson, E. D. (1990). Fishery models as applied to elasmobranch fisheries. In 'Elasmobranchs as Living Resources: Advances in the Biology, Ecology, Systematics, and the Status of the Fisheries'. (Eds H. L. Pratt, Jr., S. H. Gruber, and T. Taniuchi.) pp. 473-484. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Technical Report NMFS 90.

Compagno, L. J. V. (1990). Shark exploitation and conservation. In 'Elasmobranchs as Living Resources: Advances in the Biology, Ecology, Systematics, and the Status of the Fisheries'. (Eds H. L. Pratt, Jr., S. H. Gruber, and T. Taniuchi.) pp. 391-414. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Technical Report NMFS 90.

Pepperell, J. G. (Ed.). (1992) ‘Sharks: Biology and Fisheries’. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 43, 1-212.

Objectives

1. Publish a set of high quality internationally reviewed papers on shark fisheries management and assessment in a special issue of the Australian jounal Marine and Freshwater Research.

Related research

Environment
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Environment