Priorities for management of Chondrichthyans

The maintenance of biodiversity is a fundamental priority in wildlife conservation. Analysis of key threats can help to identify priority areas for management. Chondrichthyans have their highest biodiversity in the Indo-West... [ view full abstract ]

The maintenance of biodiversity is a fundamental priority in wildlife conservation. Analysis of key threats can help to identify priority areas for management. Chondrichthyans have their highest biodiversity in the Indo-West Pacific and endemism is particularly high for this group in Australia with almost 50% of the species being found mostly within Australia’s EEZ. According to IUCN Red Lists, of the 322 Chondrichthyans described in Australian waters, over a hundred species are reported as Near Threatened or in Threatened categories and 84 species are not properly assessed yet, and thus described as Data Deficient or Not Evaluated. The catch for 23 of these families is recorded as undifferentiated by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (2013), and includes 187 species found in Australian waters of which 120 are in the IUCN’s Near Threatened, Threatened, Data Deficient or Not Evaluated groups. This group also accounted for circa 40 tons of retained catch in the 2002 to 2012 period. In this study we evaluate species distribution data and fishery catch and effort maps of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF) to identify areas of strong overlap and groups of priority. Through the integration of fuzzy logic, geographical information systems, catch data and stock status we propose a set of priority areas for management of Chondrichthyans in fishing grounds of the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone. Multivariate analysis results showed groupings with several degrees of relations between endemic and non-endemic species and the fishing effort. Moreover, the weighted overlap between fisheries and species distribution presented patterns that can serve as tools to define priorities to conservation to fisheries management.