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Stock Status and Conservation Information
(From ISC17 Plenary Report)

Shortfin Mako Shark

Shortfin Mako Shark was last assessed in 2015 and the ISC Plenary endorsed the stock status and conservation information adopted at ISC16 (see pp. 62-63 in the ISC16 Plenary Report), which is reproduced here with slight clarifying modifications.

Stock Status

Shortfin mako is a data poor species. Recognizing that information on important fisheries is missing, the untested validity of indicators for determining stock status, and conflicts in the available data, stock status (overfishing and overfished) could not be determined. Managers should consider the undetermined stock status of SMA in the North Pacific when developing and implementing management measures.

The SHARKWG reviewed a suite of information to determine the stock status of SMA shark in the North Pacific. Of the three indices considered to have the greatest value in providing stock status information (Japan shallow-set longline, Hawaii shallow-set longline and Hawaii deep-set longline), abundance trends in two of the series appear to be stable or increasing, while the abundance trend in the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery CPUE series appears to be declining.

Conservation Information

It is recommended that data for fisheries operating in the North Pacific for which catch estimates are not yet available be developed for use in the next stock assessment scheduled for 2018 and that available catch and CPUE data be monitored for changes in trends. It is further recommended that data collection programs be implemented or improved to provide species-specific shark catch data for fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean.