Fisheries Research Articles
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-16-2020
Journal Title
Global Ecology and Conservation
ISSN
2351-9894
Keywords
Shark, MPA, Conservation, Management, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia
Disciplines
Aquaculture and Fisheries | Marine Biology
Abstract
Birkmanis et al. (2020a) used occurrence data obtained from commercial fisheries to infer the suitable habitat for eight shark species within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Australia, and quantify the amount of suitable habitat contained within existing no-fishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The authors state that shark conservation is hindered because suitable habitat is mostly unprotected from commercial fishing, therefore increasing the vulnerability of the assessed species. In doing so, the authors imply that shark conservation depends predominantly on establishing MPAs in highly suitable habitats; this, unfortunately, would disregard the broad range of other measures available in the fisheries management toolbox, most of which have been implemented in Australia for multiple decades (e.g. Stewardson et al., 2018; Gaughan and Santoro, 2019). The authors also suggest that strong fisheries management is needed to assist MPAs in protecting pelagic shark species. For the non-expert, this implies that fisheries management in Australia is not strong, even when Australian fisheries are considered to be among the few global ‘bright spots’ in terms of effective governance systems and sustainable levels of exploitation for sharks (Simpfendorfer and Dulvy, 2017; Braccini et al., 2020).
Recommended Citation
J. Matias Braccini, Stephen J. Newman, Limitations on inferring shark vulnerability from spatial habitat protection. Response to Shark conservation hindered by lack of habitat protection, Global Ecology and Conservation, Volume 24, 2020, e01219 ISSN 2351-9894, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01219.
