Featured Stories

Source: Mongabay
Author: Neha Jain

• For the first time, researchers used satellite tags attached to the fins of 40 juvenile shortfin mako sharks to directly quantify fishing mortality in the Northern Atlantic.
• Over the course of three years, 12 (30 percent) of the sharks were harvested, mostly by longline fisheries from five countries.
• Fishing mortality was ten times higher than estimates based on catch data reported by the fisheries, and 15 to 18 times higher than the rate associated with maximum sustainable yield, suggesting substantial overfishing.

Continue reading Fishing mortality of mako sharks ten times higher than fisheries’ estimates

Source: Global News Canada
Author: Alexander Quon

Even the mako shark, the fastest species of shark in the world, can’t outpace overfishing.

According to new scientific research, the population of the mako shark — one of the apex predators in the region — is in severe decline in regions of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Continue reading New research paints grim future for mako sharks in Atlantic Canada

New Population Assessment Reveals Serious Overfishing in North Atlantic

Conservation groups are calling for national and international protections for shortfin mako sharks based on a new scientific assessment that finds the North Atlantic population has been depleted and is continuing to be seriously overfished. The shortfin mako – the world’s fastest shark — is sought for meat, fins, and sport, but most fishing countries impose no limits on catch. An upcoming international fisheries meeting presents a critical opportunity to protect the species.

Continue reading Conservationists Call for Mako Shark Fishing Ban

ICCAT fishery managers aim to cap North Atlantic blue shark catch as momentum to ban at-sea fin removal grows

 Fishing nations gathered for the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) have taken a small yet unprecedented step toward establishing limits on blue shark catches from the North Atlantic, but failed to act on scientific advice to do the same for the South Atlantic. Countries also mounted an extraordinary effort to strengthen the international ban on shark “finning” that was eventually thwarted by Japan and China.

Continue reading Baby Step for Blue Sharks, New Voices Against Finning at Atlantic Tuna Meeting