Based on this review, possible management solutions for conserving and rebuilding shark populations are discussed. The authors intend to provide critical baseline information

for the further development DNA Damage inhibitor of national and international action plans that help ensure the conservation of sharks and their relatives. Available information to estimate total shark fishing mortality, including reported landings, dead discards, and illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) landings were compiled for this paper. Caught sharks are either landed (reported or IUU) or discarded (alive or dead). Discarded sharks that are finned suffer 100% mortality, and those that are not finned suffer a lower

post-release Selleck BGB324 mortality [12]. These components (reported and IUU landings, dead discards) are estimated here from published data. In some cases it was necessary to convert shark numbers to weights or vice versa. To this end published estimates of average shark weights for species belonging to four major species groups were extracted from the available peer-reviewed literature: pelagic (e.g. Prionace glauca, Isurus oxyrinchus), large coastal (e.g. Galeocerdo cuvier, Carcharhinus leucas), small coastal (e.g. Squalidae, Squatina spp.), and deep water sharks (e.g. Centrophorus granulosus, Apristurus profundorum). Published weights from each study were averaged by species group in each study (e.g. all pelagic species weights were combined into one estimate), and then the median weight was computed across studies. Reported catches were derived from the ‘Fishstat’ FAO online landings database [13]. FAO results were also compared with the ‘Sea Around Us Project’ (SAUP) database at the University of British Columbia, which is based on the FAO data

and additional sources [14]. Since results Liothyronine Sodium were similar (<10% difference in catches), and temporal coverage was more complete (1950–2010) for the FAO data, the latter was used for analysis. Chondrichthyan catches included the following categories: large coastal and pelagic sharks, small coastal sharks, deep-water sharks, undifferentiated sharks, rays and chimaeras (mixed group), rays, skates, chimaeras (separate groups) and undifferentiated skates and rays. To estimate the total take of sharks, the proportion of sharks relative to other chondrichthyan catch from the differentiated groups was determined, and it was assumed that it was the same as in the undifferentiated (mixed species) group. Global trade data for shark fins were extracted and summarized from the same data base. For regional comparison, we also analyzed trade data from the Government of Hong Kong Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Census and Statistics Reports.