Trends in the Exploitation of South Atlantic Shark Populations

Barreto, R., Ferretti, F., Mills, J., Amorim, A., Andrade, H., Worm, B., & Lessa, R. (2015). Trends in the exploitation of South Atlantic shark populations. Conservation Biology. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12663.

Key Findings

• Starting in the 1990s, fishing caused a steep decline in South Atlantic shark populations, according to analysis of logbook data from 1979 to 2011.
• Shark abundance, as indicated by catch rates, declined precipitously from the late 1990s to the late 2000s—by more than 85 percent for most species.
• While Brazil and surrounding countries have created advantageous conditions for fishing fleets to expand in the South Atlantic, proper monitoring has been inconsistent.  The end of systematic data collection in Brazilian jurisdiction, along with the cancellation of the onboard observer program severely hinders proper stock assessments and assessment of conservation status for threatened species.

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http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12663/abstract.