Progress,opportunities and challenges for marine conservation in the Pacific Islands

1. The people of the Pacific have long relied on the ocean for sustenance, commerce and cultural identity, which resulted in a sophisticated understanding of the marine environment and its conservation.
2. The global declines in ocean health require new and innovative approaches to conserving marine ecosystems. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been shown to be a highly effective means of conserving biodiversity and managing fisheries, while also restoring and preserving overall ecosystem function.
3. Traditional ecological knowledge held by many island peoples in the Pacific is critical to the development, design and implementation of contemporary MPAs.
4. Chile's offshore islands are among the few oceanic archipelagos along the west coast of South America. These islands have cultural and ecological connections to the broader insular Pacific, yet our scientific understanding of them is extremely limited.
5. Chile has created several large-scale MPAs around their offshore archipelagos. By protecting these unique ecosystems, Chile has established itself as a global leader in marine conservation.
6. Effective management and a better understanding of social–ecological interactions are currently the biggest challenges facing MPAs in the Pacific Islands.

     

Evolving the narrative for protecting a rapidly changing ocean,post-COVID-19

1. The ocean is the linchpin supporting life on Earth, but it is in declining health due to an increasing footprint of human use and climate change. Despite notable successes in helping to protect the ocean, the scale of actions is simply not now meeting the overriding scale and nature of the ocean's problems that confront us.
2. Moving into a post-COVID-19 world, new policy decisions will need to be made. Some, especially those developed prior to the pandemic, will require changes to their trajectories; others will emerge as a response to this global event. Reconnecting with nature, and specifically with the ocean, will take more than good intent and wishful thinking. Words, and how we express our connection to the ocean, clearly matter now more than ever before.
3. The evolution of the ocean narrative, aimed at preserving and expanding options and opportunities for future generations and a healthier planet, is articulated around six themes: (1) all life is dependent on the ocean; (2) by harming the ocean, we harm ourselves; (3) by protecting the ocean, we protect ourselves; (4) humans, the ocean, biodiversity, and climate are inextricably linked; (5) ocean and climate action must be undertaken together; and (6) reversing ocean change needs action now.
4. This narrative adopts a ‘One Health’ approach to protecting the ocean, addressing the whole Earth ocean system for better and more equitable social, cultural, economic, and environmental outcomes at its core. Speaking with one voice through a narrative that captures the latest science, concerns, and linkages to humanity is a precondition to action, by elevating humankind's understanding of our relationship with ‘planet Ocean’ and why it needs to become a central theme to everyone's lives. We have only one ocean, we must protect it, now. There is no ‘Ocean B’.

     

Biodiversity,ecology, fisheries,and use and trade of Tetraodontiformes fishes reveal their socio‐ecological significance along the tropical Brazilian continental shelf

1. Tetraodontiformes fishes play a critical role in benthic and demersal communities and are facing threats due to anthropogenic impacts and climate change. However, they are poorly studied worldwide. To improve knowledge on the socio‐ecological significance and conservation of Tetraodontiformes a review of literature addressing the diversity, ecology, use and trade, conservation, and main threats of Tetraodontiformes combined with a comprehensive in situ dataset from two broad‐range multidisciplinary oceanographic surveys performed along the Tropical Brazilian Continental Shelf was undertaken.
2. Twenty‐nine species were identified, being primarily found on coral reefs and algal ecosystems. At these habitats, tetraodontids present highly diversified trophic categories and might play an important role by balancing the marine food web
3. Coral reef ecosystems, especially those near to the shelf break, seem to be the most important areas of Tetraodontiformes fishes, concentrating the highest values of species richness, relative abundance and the uncommon and Near Threatened species.
4. Ninety per cent of species are commonly caught as bycatch, being also used in the ornamental trade (69%) and as food (52%), serving as an important source of income for artisanal local fisheries.
5. Tetraodontiformes are threatened by unregulated fisheries, overexploitation, bycatch, and habitat loss due to coral reef degradation and the potential effects of climate change. These factors are more broadly impacting global biodiversity, food security, and other related ecosystem functions upon which humans and many other organisms rely.
6. We recommend the following steps that could improve the conservation of Tetraodontiformes along the tropical Brazilian Continental shelf and elsewhere: (i) data collection of the commercial, incidental, ornamental and recreational catches; (ii) improvement of the current legislation directed at the marine ornamental harvesting; (iii) increase efforts focused on the education and conservation awareness in coastal tourism and communities; and, most important, (iv) creation of marine reserves networks in priority areas of conservation, protecting either the species and key habitats for its survival.

     

Review of climate change impacts on marine fisheries in the UK and Ireland

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Gone with the wind: Seasonal distribution and habitat use by the reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) in the Maldives,implications for conservation

1. Reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) are one of the ocean's largest and most charismatic species. Pressure from targeted and bycatch fisheries coupled with their conservative life‐history traits including slow growth, late maturity, and low fecundity has led to catastrophic declines of the global population. The species is now listed as Vulnerable to Extinction on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
2. The global M. alfredi population is widely distributed in highly fragmented subpopulations. The Maldives supports the world's largest known subpopulation that undergoes seasonal migrations which are thought to be linked to peaks in ocean productivity induced by the South Asian Monsoon. Although the species is protected from targeted fisheries in the region, increasing pressures from habitat degradation and unsustainable tourism activities mean their effective conservation relies upon knowledge of the species' habitat use, seasonal distribution, and the environmental influences on such movements.
3. Photo‐ID sighting records collected between 2005 and 2017 were used to identify key aggregation sites throughout the archipelago, and multiple linear regression and prediction analysis identified the environmental variables affecting variations in the intra‐annual sighting frequency of M. alfredi.
4. Mobula alfredi were recorded at 273 different sites, 48 of which, with >100 sightings at each, were classified as key areas of habitat use. South‐west monsoon winds and chlorophyll‐a concentration predominantly affected the monthly percentage of M. alfredi sighted on the down‐current side of the atolls.
5. In a country where climate change and touristic pressure are increasingly threatening this species and its habitat, the identification of key areas of habitat use and temporal changes in the use of these sites highlight the areas that should be prioritized for protection enabling more effective conservation management.

     

Tropical invertebrate response to marine reserves varies with protection duration,habitat type,and exploitation history

1. Macroinvertebrates play a critical role in marine processes, are important in global fisheries, and make up the vast majority of ocean biodiversity, yet are largely overlooked in fisheries stock assessment and conservation. Marine reserves are a heavily advocated method for promoting recovery of marine biodiversity, but the design of reserves and the methods for evaluating their performance often neglect invertebrate taxa, instead assessing changes in fish abundance or biomass.
2. The purpose of this study is to (1) measure the impacts of no‐take marine reserves on marine macroinvertebrates, (2) identify the correlates of changes to macroinvertebrate abundance, and (3) determine if the typical taxa used to measure reserve success (finfish) can predict changes in invertebrate abundance.
3. Non‐coral, non‐sponge, macroinvertebrates were sampled inside and outside of 10 community‐managed marine reserves in the Central Philippines and compared with abundances found at distant fished sites.
4. Using generalized linear mixed effects models with multimodel inference, positive reserve effects were found in exploited invertebrate taxa both inside and outside of reserves (1.5–2.3 times greater abundances), but no effect was found in unfished taxa.
5. Habitat composition and complexity were consistently associated with higher invertebrate abundance. Most surprisingly, invertebrate abundance was not consistently predicted by that of fish.
6. These results indicate fish, in isolation, may not be an ideal indicator for biodiversity response to reserves, and habitat considerations are important when creating reserves that support invertebrates. These results are particularly relevant to practitioners in developing regions, where community‐managed reserves are common and invertebrates are important in fisheries.

     

Understanding the impact of climate change on the oceanic circulation in the Chilean island ecoregions

1. The largest changes in the circulation of the South-eastern Pacific resulting from global warming are associated with the southward shift and intensification of the anticyclone and with coastal surface warming. Coastal upwelling is projected to be increase off central Chile, due to an increase in equatorward winds, although increased oceanic stratification and associated enhanced nearshore turbulence will yield an onshore deepening/flattening of the thermocline.
2. The overall increase in south-easterly trade winds of the South-eastern Pacific in a warmer climate are likely to increase the connectivity pattern between Juan Fernandez and Desventuradas islands, and along the Sala y Gomez ridge, through increasing wind-driven mean ocean currents.
3. Deoxygenation associated with the warmer temperatures and changes in ventilation are likely to modify marine habitat and the respiratory barriers of species in the seamounts located in the vicinity of the limits of the minimum oxygen zone.
4. In the South-eastern Pacific, the prevailing 2D understanding of the responses of marine life to climate change needs to be expanded to 3D approaches, integrating the vertical habitat compression of marine organisms as a result of ocean warming and deoxygenation, as climate velocities for temperature and oxygen have contrasting vertical and horizontal patterns.
5. There is a need for regional biogeochemical-coupled modelling studies dedicated to the Chilean islands in order to provide an integrated view of the impact of anthropogenic stressors (e.g. deoxygenation, increased stratification, and climate shift) at the scale required for addressing socio-ecological interactions.
6. A refined understanding of the large-scale biogeography and spatial dynamics of marine populations through experimentation with high-resolution regional ocean models is a prerequisite for scaling-up regional management planning and optimizing the conservation of interconnected marine ecosystems across large scales.

     

Weaknesses in stock assessment modelling and management practices affect fisheries sustainability

1. We respond to criticism of our earlier paper where we report Australia‐wide declines in fisheries catches that parallel the declining trends in fish populations observed underwater, and we highlight concerns about the low levels of precaution applied when regulating fisheries catches using the avoidance of recruitment failure approach.
2. Most fished species worldwide lack the data needed for accurate stock status assessments, and consequently exploitation of these species should be managed with high precaution.
3. For the relatively few species and stocks with individually modelled assessments, the errors associated with model output are extremely large as a result of the multiplicity of confounding factors (including effects of changing climate, technological advances that increase catch efficiency, fisher behaviour, interactions with other species, and changes in habitat quality), and the compounding of error introduced by subjective assumptions in multiple parameter estimates. The magnitude of this assessment uncertainty appears to be rarely recognized and incorporated into management decisions.
4. Given the difficulties in accurately predicting and managing fishing impacts, including species interactions across space and time, a well‐designed set of no‐take marine reserves is critically needed. Although not a universal panacea, an effective global network of marine reserves arguably represents the most efficient and publicly acceptable next step – in addition to greenhouse gas reduction – towards solving the unfolding global dilemma confronting fish populations and ocean ecosystems.

     

Tracking interactions: Shifting baseline and fisheries networks in the largest Southwestern Atlantic reef system

1. Increasing evidence has revealed that different fisheries have collapsed around the world. This is generally more evident in countries that can maintain long‐term research and fisheries monitoring. When monitoring data are not available, alternative approaches to assess fisheries trends can be used, such as the local ecological knowledge of fishers.
2. To investigate decadal changes in fisheries the local ecological knowledge of small‐scale fishers' was evaluated at four sites in Brazil: Porto Seguro, Prado, Alcobaça, and Caravelas. A fisher–fish network weighted by interaction strength was built to indicate the most relevant resources among fishers.
3. The results suggest the occurrence of the shifting baseline syndrome among generations of fishers regarding commercially important fishes such as groupers and snappers. Handline fishers indicated a decline in catch per unit effort over 5 decades.
4. Fisher–fish networks from Caravelas showed greater stability with stronger interaction strength, while Porto Seguro and Alcobaça networks were more fragile, and Prado network showed intermediate characteristics. Overfishing has affected high trophic level species that act as module hubs across the majority of sites.
5. The fisher–fish network approach can be applied in data limited cases, improving the assessments of fisheries' dynamics (in space and time) and declining species.

     

Strengthening the synergies among global biodiversity targets to reconcile conservation and socio‐economic demands

1. Most of the world's nations adopted the 20 Aichi global biodiversity targets to be met by 2020, including the protection of at least 10% of their coastal and marine areas (Target 11) and the avoidance of extinction of threatened species (Target 12). However, reconciling these biodiversity targets with socio‐economic demands remains a great dilemma for implementing conservation policies.
2. In this paper, Aichi Targets 11 and 12 were simultaneously addressed using Brazil's exclusive economic zone as an example. Priority areas for expanding the current system of marine protected areas within the country's eight marine ecoregions were identified with data on threatened vertebrates under different scenarios. Additionally, the potential effects of major socio‐economic activities (small? and large‐scale fishing, seabed mining, and oil and gas exploration) on the representation of conservation features in proposed marine protected areas were explored.
3. Areas selected for expanding marine protected areas solely based on biodiversity data were different (spatial overlap from 62% to 93%) from areas prioritized when socio‐economic features were incorporated into the analysis. The addition of socio‐economic data in the prioritization process substantially decreased opportunity costs and potential conservation conflicts, at the cost of reducing significantly (up to 31%) the coverage of conservation features. Large? and small‐scale fisheries act in most of the exclusive economic zone and are the major constraints for protecting high‐priority areas.
4. Nevertheless, there is some spatial mismatch between areas of special relevance for conservation and socio‐economic activities, suggesting an opportunity for reconciling the achievement of biodiversity targets and development goals within the intricate Brazilian seascape by 2020 and beyond.

     

Fishing for conservation of freshwater tropical fishes in the Anthropocene

1. The ecosystem services provided by freshwater biodiversity are threatened by development and environmental and climate change in the Anthropocene.
2. Here, case studies are described to show that a focus on the shared dependence on freshwater ecosystem functioning can mutually benefit fisheries and conservation agendas in the Anthropocene.
3. Meeting the threat to fish biodiversity and fisher livelihood is pertinent in developing regions where there is often a convergence between high biodiversity, high dependency on aquatic biota and rapid economic development (see Kafue River, Logone floodplain, Tonle Sap, and Rio Negro case studies).
4. These case studies serve as evidence that biodiversity conservation goals can be achieved by emphasizing a sustainable fisheries agenda with partnerships, shared knowledge and innovation in fisheries management (see Kafue River and Kenai River case studies).
5. In all case studies, aquatic biodiversity conservation and fisheries agendas are better served if efforts focused on creating synergies between fishing activities with ecosystem functioning yield long‐term livelihood and food security narratives.
6. A unified voice from conservation and fisheries communities has more socio‐economic and political capital to advocate for biodiversity and social interests in freshwater governance decisions.

     

Changes in northern Tanzania coral reefs during a period of increased fisheries management and climatic disturbance

• 1. Surveys of coral reefs in northern Tanzania were conducted in 2004/5 with the aim of comparing them over an～8‐year period during a time of increased efforts at fisheries management and the 1998 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) coral mortality event that caused 45% mortality in northern Tanzania and much of the Indian Ocean.
• 2. Changes associated with both management, its absence, and the ENSO were found but changes were generally small and ecological measures indicated stability or improvements over this period, particularly when compared with reports from much of the northern Indian Ocean.
• 3. Fisheries management in two areas increased the biomass of fish and benthic communities. A small fisheries closure (0.3 km²) displayed little change in the coral community but ecological conditions declined as measured by sea urchins and fish abundances. This change may be associated with its small size because similar changes were not measured in the large closure (28 km²).
• 4. The few sites without any increased management were still degraded and one site had experienced a population explosion of a pest sea urchin, Echinometra mathaei.
• 5. The lack of significant changes across this disturbance indicates that these reefs are moderately resilient to climate change and, therefore, a high priority for future conservation actions.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An interview‐based approach assessing interactions between seals and small‐scale fisheries informs the conservation strategy of the endangered Mediterranean monk seal

1. Small‐scale fisheries may pose a serious threat to the conservation of marine mammals. At the same time various factors have led to the decline of small‐scale fisheries, often making them unsustainable. Current rates of biodiversity loss and the reduction of fish stocks and fisheries dictate a thorough understanding of fisheries‐related issues and the implementation of effective management actions.
2. The Mediterranean monk seal is one of the most endangered marine mammals on Earth; its survival in the eastern Mediterranean Sea is threatened by negative interactions with fisheries. A nationwide questionnaire survey among fishers and port police authorities was carried out in Greece to describe the main characteristics of small‐scale fisheries, and to understand the nature and assess the magnitude of negative interactions between the monk seal and these fisheries. Questionnaire information was verified by a second round of interviews during landings.
3. The main attributes of the fishers, their fishing boats, and their practices were characteristic of the small‐scale fisheries sector. Overfishing was considered the main reason for fish‐stock reduction, and negative interactions with marine mammals was considered the main issue for the fishing sector.
4. Monk seals were present, caused damage, and got accidentally entangled in fishing gear throughout Greece. Damage to fishing gear was recorded mainly during spring and summer, and on average affected 21% of all fishing trips and 1% of nets deployed during a fishing trip.
5. Based on these results, the implementation of general and specific nationwide fishery management and conservation actions are proposed. These actions are mainly aimed at improving fish stock status, changing the behaviour of the fishers, and mitigating seal–fishery interactions in Greece, while promoting the recovery of the Mediterranean monk seal in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

     

Drivers of consensus‐based decision‐making in international environmental regimes: Lessons from the Southern Ocean

1. The global environmental crisis (characterized by declines in biodiversity, transboundary pollution, habitat degradation, and climate change) has inspired international environmental regimes, such as the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), to establish large‐scale networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
2. The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica comprises roughly 10% of the global ocean and plays a crucial role in regulating global climate and marine ecosystems. Although the Antarctic marine environment currently remains one of the most intact on Earth, it is threatened by fishery expansion and a rapidly changing climate. In response, CCAMLR has been developing a representative network of MPAs to sustain ecosystem structure and function, protect areas vulnerable to human activities, and conserve biodiversity.
3. Whereas significant research has focused on the role of formal mechanisms and state power in international environmental regimes, very little is known about the role of non‐state actors and informal approaches, particularly in the negotiation of agreements to establish large‐scale networks of MPAs.
4. Case analysis of the 2016 Ross Sea Region MPA agreement reveals that CCAMLR is undergoing a significant period of learning and institutional evolution, as actors seek novel ways to negotiate a network of Southern Ocean MPAs. Key drivers of consensus include external political dynamics, internal leadership and group dynamics, and shared concern for the future of CCAMLR and Antarctic MPAs.
5. Actors also rely on informal principles of negotiation (such as increasing transparency, developing trust, and engaging in dialogue) to fill institutional gaps in both CCAMLR's formal structure and the current process for developing and negotiating MPAs.
6. As environmental threats grow in complexity and scale, non‐state actors and informal negotiations will become increasingly critical to support the ongoing success of formal international institutions dedicated to protecting the ecological integrity and function of the global environment.

     

Assessing conservation priorities of endemic freshwater fishes in the Tropical Andes region

1. Assessing the effectiveness of protected areas for sustaining species and identifying priority sites for their conservation is vital for decision making, particularly for freshwater fishes in South America, the global centre of freshwater fish diversity. Several conservation planning studies have used threatened freshwater fishes or species that are vulnerable to climate change as conservation targets, but none has included both in priority‐setting analysis.
2. The objectives of this study were to identify gaps in the coverage of the existing protected areas in representing the endemic freshwater fishes of the Tropical Andes region, and to identify conservation priority areas that adequately cover threatened species and species vulnerable to climate change.
3. Data on 648 freshwater fishes from the Tropical Andes were used to identify gaps in the protected area coverage, and to identify conservation priority sites under three scenarios: (i) prioritize threatened species; (ii) prioritize species that are vulnerable to climate change; and (iii) prioritize both threatened species and species vulnerable to climate change.
4. A total of 571 species (88% of all species) were not covered by any protected areas; most of them are restricted to ≤10 catchments. To represent both threatened species and species vulnerable to climate change in the third scenario, 635 catchments were identified as priority areas, representing 26.5% of the study area. The number of irreplaceable catchments for this scenario is 475, corresponding to 22.5% of the total area.
5. The results of this study could be crucial for designing strategies for the effective protection of native fish populations in the Tropical Andes, and for planning proactive climate adaptation. It is hoped that the identification of priority areas, particularly irreplaceable catchments, will help to guide conservation and management decisions in the Andean region.

     

A new map of the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) genetic population structure in the western Atlantic Ocean: Hypothesis of an equatorial convergence centre

1. The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) is a common widespread coastal–pelagic shark species whose population genetic structure has only recently been the object of genetic studies.
2. In this study, the tiger's shark mitochondrial DNA control region was sequenced for a sample of 172 individuals from the western Atlantic and from Australia's east coast in the Pacific Ocean.
3. The results show a moderate variation in genetic diversity (h = 0.615 ± 0.038, π = 0.00184 ± 0.00021) with a strong population structure between Atlantic areas (Φ_ST = 0.28141, P = 0.00001).
4. The maternal lineage has high site fidelity, which paradoxically is coupled with connectivity across open ocean stretches to Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, which is identified as an important hotspot for this species. These results help with the understanding of what drives the displacement of this shark, at intra‐ and/or inter‐ocean basins levels, and can help inform the implementation of future conservation and management measures.
5. We recommend that the conservation of genetic diversity should be maintained at a global level and its maintenance should be pursued diligently in all populations of tiger shark. As the Fernando de Noronha region in the western Atlantic appears to contain the largest global genetic diversity of the species, this area should be treated as a marine reserve or ecological refuge for the tiger shark.

     

You can swim but you can't hide: the global status and conservation of oceanic pelagic sharks and rays

• 1. Fishing spans all oceans and the impact on ocean predators such as sharks and rays is largely unknown. A lack of data and complicated jurisdictional issues present particular challenges for assessing and conserving high seas biodiversity. It is clear, however, that pelagic sharks and rays of the open ocean are subject to high and often unrestricted levels of mortality from bycatch and targeted fisheries for their meat and valuable fins.
• 2. These species exhibit a wide range of life‐history characteristics, but many have relatively low productivity and consequently relatively high intrinsic vulnerability to over‐exploitation. The IUCN — World Conservation Union Red List criteria were used to assess the global status of 21 oceanic pelagic shark and ray species.
• 3. Three‐quarters (16) of these species are classified as Threatened or Near Threatened. Eleven species are globally threatened with higher risk of extinction: the giant devilray is Endangered, ten sharks are Vulnerable and a further five species are Near Threatened. Threat status depends on the interaction between the demographic resilience of the species and intensity of fisheries exploitation.
• 4. 4. Most threatened species, like the shortfin mako shark, have low population increase rates and suffer high fishing mortality throughout their range. Species with a lower risk of extinction have either fast, resilient life histories (e.g. pelagic stingray) or are species with slow, less resilient life histories but subject to fisheries management (e.g. salmon shark).
• 5. 5. Recommendations, including implementing and enforcing finning bans and catch limits, are made to guide effective conservation and management of these sharks and rays.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heads you win,tails you lose: Life‐history traits predict invasion and extinction risk of the world's freshwater fishes

1. Freshwater fishes have the distinction of being both a highly imperilled taxonomic group as well as one that has produced many invasive species with widespread ecological impacts. Faced with the difficult task of identifying those species with the greatest need for management action, ecologists have turned to using predictive suites of ecological and life‐history traits to provide reasonable estimates of fish invasion and extinction risk. Whether traits associated with invasiveness are the inverse of those associated with imperillment, known as the ‘two‐sides‐of‐the‐same‐coin’ hypothesis, remains unclear.
2. A global trait analysis (including maximum total body size, longevity, size at maturation, age at maturation, fecundity and egg size) for 6293 freshwater fishes was conducted to examine the trait correlates of species proneness to invasion or extinction. A meta‐analytical procedure was deployed using univariate and multivariate trait analyses that accounted for the effects of shared phylogeny.
3. Mean trait differences (measured as Hedges' d effect size) were found between invasive and threatened species when compared with native species, thus supporting the two‐sides‐of‐the‐same‐coin hypothesis for freshwater fish. Invasive species were characterized by larger body size, greater longevity, delayed maturation and higher fecundity than threatened species. Furthermore, invasive species were found to display greater trait variability compared with threatened species, suggesting that different traits may be selected at different stages of the invasion process (from pathway entrainment to establishment) whereas more specific trait combinations may predispose species to higher extinction risk.
4. The present study demonstrated a strong trait basis to global‐scale invasion risk and extinction vulnerability for freshwater fishes. Given that both time and resources are too limited for detailed species‐by‐species assessments, the results suggest that trait correlates provide a reasonable estimate of invasion and extinction risk that can inform more targeted and proactive conservation strategies.

     

Fisheries and conservation assessment of sharks in Pacific Panama

1. In Panama, shark fisheries were initially developed in the 1980s and progressively increased in production in the 1990s mainly due to the high demand for shark fins and meat from the international Asian market. Since then, and despite the exploitation rate (average 3,514 t year^–1) and endangered status of some species, shark fisheries have seldom been studied, and official statistics are general or incomplete and not suitable for the development of appropriate conservation and management strategies.
2. To understand the dynamics of shark fisheries in Panama, field surveys were conducted between 2007 and 2009 at several landing ports of small‐scale and industrial fisheries, at fish processing plants and on‐board fishing vessels in Pacific Panama, where most of the fishing vessels of the country operate.
3. In general, it was found that the artisanal and industrial fisheries of the Pacific coast of Panama regularly exploit at least 18 species of sharks, which are also being exploited by neighbouring countries in the eastern Pacific, suggesting the importance of coordinated conservation initiatives across the multiple jurisdictions. A large number of the individuals caught were immature, implying a certain level of impact on recruitment rates. This pattern was particularly evident in species such as Sphyrna lewini, for which immature individuals represented at least 99% and 63% of the total catch by small‐scale and industrial fisheries, respectively. Catch per unit of effort analyses showed that Carcharhinus and Sphyrna species were the most exploited (representing ~80% of the catches) by industrial fisheries in Panama between 2006 and 2009, suggesting that fishery management should provide special attention to these groups.
4. It is expected that the information presented here provides a baseline to develop new regulations, including the implementation of annual quotas and fishing seasons and the protection of nursery areas, for the long‐term sustainability and conservation of sharks in Panama.