Regulating shark and ray mortality through effective policy

Shark and ray populations across the world are under threat from fishing pressure resulting from global demand for shark fins and mobulid gill plates, and more recently, domestic consumption of meat. Many countries lack... [ view full abstract ]

Shark and ray populations across the world are under threat from fishing pressure resulting from global demand for shark fins and mobulid gill plates, and more recently, domestic consumption of meat. Many countries lack effective management measures to regulate these fisheries to curb population declines, aid species recovery, or shift toward sustainable methods. Increasingly, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) are playing a role to manage these species. Sri Lanka, although among the top-15 elasmobranch fishing nations, took a leading role in listing sharks at CITES and CMS. The recent national CITES Non-Detriment Finding (NDF) recommended additional species-specific data to be collected given the data-poor situation. Therefore, we have established a project to routinely collect data from landing sites across Sri Lanka. Since August 2017, 130 surveys were conducted identifying a total of 45 species (22 sharks and 23 rays) from 1,666 specimens. Such data improves knowledge of national species diversity, helps track changes over time, and updates distribution maps. However, to support informed and effective fisheries management plans, data collection must be standardised and expanded across the region to take into account shared stocks and knowledge on survival post-release and bycatch mitigation must be improved. Ultimately, for management policies to be effective they must be up-to-date, practical, and enforceable. A focus on the sustainable management of species via regulated trade should be prioritised over drastic last-minute measures such as total prohibition.