Description and analysis of the blue shark, Prionace glauca (Linnaeus, 1758), fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean
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1
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
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2
Marine Stewardship Council, Spain
The blue shark, Prionace glauca, is considered the most abundant and the world’s widest-ranging shark. Nowadays, large volumes of this species are caught by fisheries all around the world, and particularly, in the Atlantic Ocean, one of the most heavily fished marine ecosystems. P. glauca accounts for 70% of total sharks catches in this ocean and is a major component of the international shark’s fin trade. Spain is one of the leading nations in capturing and trading this species. Because of this relevance, it becomes necessary to increase knowledge about the current status of the blue shark populations in the Atlantic. This study conducts, firstly, a thorough literature review of the biology, ecology and fisheries of this species in the Atlantic region. Secondly, new qualitative and quantitative data of the Spanish longline fishing operations were directly collected throughout interviews and enquiries to diverse representatives of this fishing sector, from skippers to researchers, producers’ organizations, auctions’ representatives, public administrations and NGOs. This exercise allowed us to obtain detailed information on the status of this species in the study area under the current fishing pressure and practices. Finally, these data previously collected were analyzed to assess the sustainability of both Atlantic stocks of this species (North and South), applying the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) tools. In particular, the information was evaluated against some of the performance indicators of the Principle 1 of the MSC Fisheries Standard designed to explain the status of the stock. The three analysis developed during our study allow us to understand the evolution, the status and the environmental performance of the Spanish blue shark fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean, and also to conclude that the biomass of both stocks, North and South, of Prionace glauca in this ocean are apparently at sustainable levels, even though improvements in management measures and knowledge should be implemented.
Keywords:
Blue shark,
Longline Fishery,
Prionace glauca,
Marine Stewardship Council,
Atlantic Ocean
Conference:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
4. FISHERIES, AQUACULTURE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
Citation:
Rendal-Freire
S,
Montero-Castaño
C and
Castro-Hernández
J
(2016). Description and analysis of the blue shark, Prionace glauca (Linnaeus, 1758), fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00194
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Received:
02 Sep 2016;
Published Online:
03 Sep 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Mrs. Sara Rendal-Freire, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, sara.rendal101@alu.ulpgc.es
Mr. Carlos Montero-Castaño, Marine Stewardship Council, Madrid, Spain, carlos.montero@msc.org