GPS Tracking Reveals Fishing Quotas are Needed to Protect Sharks
7 Jul 2016
New research indicates that fishing quotas may be needed to protect keep shark species who are threatened in the North Atlantic Ocean. These sharks feed in the same locations that are frequented by fishing vessels, which puts the sharks in harm’s way.
In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, GPS tracking devices were placed on fishing vessels that fish the targeted areas in the North Atlantic Ocean. Tracking devices were also placed on the sharks who feed in the same area.
According to the data that was collected by the GPS tracking devices that were placed on both the sharks and the boats, there is a significant overlap between areas where there are high amounts of shark activity and fishing activity.
During the duration of the study, researchers from the US, the UK, Portugal and Spain used satellites to track more than 100 sharks from six different shark species across the North Atlantic Ocean, one of the most heavily fished parts of the Atlantic Ocean. In addition to tracking the sharks, the researchers also tracked a total of 186 longline fishing vessels from Spain and Portugal.
Researcher Findings
The researchers found that 80 percent of mako and blue sharks tracked, the most heavily fished species of sharks, overlapped with the fishing vessels. In fact, it was found that some sharks stayed near the fishing vessels for more than 60 percent of the time that they were being tracked.
According to David Sims of the University of Southampton and the Senior Author of the study, while there have been many studies that have tracked sharks and fishing vessels, minimal research has been done to track sharks and fishing vessels together.
Sims also pointed out that this information shows that the sharks that are threatened in the North Atlantic have very few places left to hide in their habitat, which is the result of highly industrialized high-seas fishing, which has significantly spiked over the last 5 decades.
A spokesman for the University of Southampton indicated that the researchers of this study suggest that since the current hotspots of shark activity in the North Atlantic are particularly at high risk of being overfished, introducing catch quotas or instating size limits on catch sizes, is vital to protect oceanic sharks.
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