Demographics of a Heavily Exploited Deep Water Shark Echinorhinus Cf. Brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) from the South-Eastern Arabian Sea (original) (raw)

In the absence of direct consumption importance and considering as low value bycatch, many vulnerable non-target species, especially slow growing deep water fauna, are overlooked in tropical fisheries research and management. The bramble shark Echinorhinus cf. brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) is one such species, subjected to a significant non-targeted deepwater fishery off southern India. A length frequency based stock assessment of bramble shark caught in trawl fisheries from the southeastern Arabian Sea suggests that, E. cf. brucus is a moderately slow growing (K=0.12 year-1) and moderately long lived shark species (T max = 25 years, L ∞ = 333 at corresponding age of 55 years) which is overexploited (M=0.17, Z=0.39) in the region. In view of resilience capacity and vulnerability of deep sea fisheries, improved research and monitoring programmes are urgently required to ensure a sustainable future for India's expanding deep sea and distant water fisheries.