Research Document - 2002/101

Catch, bycatch and landings of blue shark (Prionace glauca) in the Canadian Atlantic

By S. Campana, P. Gonzalez, W. Joyce and L. Marks

Abstract

To this point, the bycatch of blue sharks in Atlantic Canada has not been examined, although it is believed to be much larger than the non-restrictive catch quotas of 250 mt applied to the directed blue shark fishery. Blue shark landings by Canadian vessels have been minimal, averaging 52 mt annually since 1990. Analysis of at-sea Observer data indicate that most of the blue shark are caught in the longline fishery for tuna, swordfish and porbeagle in deep waters off the continental shelves of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in the latter half of the year. Virtually all is discarded at sea. Analysis by country, fishery and year indicated that blue shark bycatch accounted for 26-152% of the total large pelagic catch, and that Canadian and Japanese longliners caught most of the catch. The bycatch rate for the Canadian and Faroese porbeagle fishery was low at 7%. Canadian fisheries accounted for more than 80% of the total estimated blue shark catch, with most of that coming from the swordfishery. Total estimated annual catch ranged between 243-4048 mt since 1986, with an overall mean catch of 1346 mt. Inconsistencies in the data suggest that the bycatch rate could be 50% higher than was reported, although survival of discarded sharks would reduce bycatch mortality.

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