Human Problems (from a shark’s viewpoint) 195
has control and no restrictions apply. International governing bodies have,
however, failed repeatedly to institute needed restrictions. It was only in
2004 that bans on the sale of Whale, White, and Basking sharks between
countries were finally instituted.
Some regulatory action is likely to come from the U.N. Agreement on
the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly
Migratory Fish Stocks, which was formalized in 1995 and is slowly being
ratified by member nations. In 1999, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Orga-
nization (FAO) produced an International Plan of Action for the Conser-
vation and Management of Sharks (www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/fishery),
another positive step. Member states were encouraged to develop national
plans of action that included regular assessments of shark stocks and data
sharing among nations, particularly for migratory species. However, ob-
stacles to improvement remain substantial. For example, India, the world’s
most active shark fishing nation, reports catches solely as “elasmobranchs,”
a group that includes 20 shark species and 45 skates and rays. But as we
have seen, sharks differ in abundance, life history characteristics, habitat,
feeding, behavior, and, consequently, vulnerability to exploitation. Manag-
ing elasmobranchs as a group makes little sense.
To date, action by U.N. members has been slow at best, although the
situation appears to be improving with time. Another cause for hope is
the large and dedicated constituency of people and organizations who care
about sharks. This group includes the American Elasmobranch Society,
the Shark Specialist Group of the IUCN, the Shark Trust in the United
Kingdom, the Oceania Chondrichthyan Society, and the European Elas-
mobranch Association, as well as numerous conservation organizations.
(See appendixes B and C for more information on shark conservation orga-
nizations and their work.) Our hope is that readers of this book will join in
these efforts to protect and conserve these magnificent animals.
What is bycatch and can it be reduced?
Bycatch, sometimes referred to as by-kill, involves the incidental cap-
ture of sharks in fishing operations that were targeting other species. Be-
cause of the feeding habits of sharks, they are often caught on baited hooks,
regardless of what the hooks were actually meant to catch. Sharks, skates,
and rays become entangled in gill nets and are often taken in trawl nets de-
signed to catch other species.
Because bycatch is often not reported, it is difficult to know with ac-
curacy just how many sharks are caught incidentally in the world’s fish-
ing industry. Almost no data are available for recreational, subsistence, and
artisanal fisheries, adding to the inaccuracies. About 100 million sharks,