Abstract
There is increasing concern for the conservation of sharks among scientists, environmental conservation advocates, and the interested public, but misunderstanding among policy non-specialists about which conservation and management policies are available, and which might work best for certain situations, persists. Here we present a review of fisheries management and conservation literature relating to sharks. Policies are broadly divided into target-based policies that aim for sustainable fisheries exploitation (e.g. fisheries quotas) and limit-based policies that aim to prevent all fisheries exploitation of entire taxa (e.g. marine reserves). A list of the pros and cons of each policy is included, as is a decision tree to aid in selection of the most appropriate policy. Our goal is that this paper will allow policy non-specialists, including scientists without policy training, environmental activists, and concerned citizens, to make informed decisions when advocating for shark conservation.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 401-412 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Animal Conservation |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 1 2016 |
Keywords
- conservation policy
- elasmobranchs
- fisheries
- marine reserves
- overfishing
- protected areas
- sharks
- threatened species
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology
- Nature and Landscape Conservation