Lawrence R. Beerkircher

Is the collapse of shark populations in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico real

Abstract Increasing fishing pressure on sharks stocks over recent decades has resulted in declines of many populations and led to increasing concerns for their conservation. The extent of these declines, however, has been highly variable—the result of the level of fishing, ocean conditions, and the life history of individual species. Two recent articles have described the collapse and possible extirpation of shark populations in the northwest Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Herein, we examine the results of these two papers commenting on the data sets used, comparing them to other available data sets, and critically evaluating the analyses and conclusions. We argue that these conclusions have been overstated because: (1) the analyses were based on a limited number of data sets, (2) the data sets themselves are inadequate to describe the status of all shark populations in the northwest Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico reported in these studies, (3) available data sets that could produce different concl...