The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in India has put forward a plan to identify shark hotspots in Indian waters in order to protect the endangered species from targeted fishing activities. The institute said this initiative is aimed at enforcing spatial and temporal fishing regulations to protect the dwindling shark population from overfishing. The objective is to protect young sharks and breeding adults from targeted fishing activities, CMFRI said in a release here on Tuesday.
While presenting the status of shark fisheries in India at a consultative meeting on the conservation of sharks held in Kochi, Dr Shoba Joe Kizhakudan, Head of the Finfish Fisheries Division of the CMFRI, said that sharks have not evolved to withstand overexploitation.
They cannot reproduce fast enough to make up for the increasing number of deaths every year, as most sharks have a long lifespan and low reproductive output, she said.
According to the CMFRI, the landings (catch) of elasmobranch, a group that includes sharks, rays, and guitarfish, declined by approximately 55 per cent between 2012 and 2022.
Dr Kizhakudan stressed the importance of continuous monitoring, assessments, and stakeholder awareness campaigns.
Highlighting CMFRI’s research on sharks, Director Dr A Gopalakrishnan said the institute will focus on understanding the complex interplay between fishing activities and other factors affecting shark populations, in the next five years. This knowledge will be crucial for crafting effective conservation, sustainability, and management strategies, and for ensuring the livelihood security of coastal communities, he added.
Gopalakrishnan said CMFRI has been recognised as a CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Scientific Authority in India and is responsible for conducting non-detrimental finding (NDF) studies on CITES-listed marine species.
”Six NDF documents covering 11 resources have been brought in by the institute so far,” he said.
Gopalakrishnan also said that annual landing estimates of 121 species of elasmobranchs from the Indian EEZ are being carried out by CMFRI.
“CMFRI’s expertise in elasmobranch research continues to receive global recognition. Our researchers were included in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Subject Specialist Groups and CITES panels.
”The government of Oman has requested CMFRI’s technical guidance for their shark and ray research programmes, including the use of classical and genetic taxonomic identification tools,” CMFRI Director said.