Pollock Conservation Cooperative Research Center
2007 Awarded Research Projects
Investigation of bycatch and the ecology of sharks in the Bering Sea
Abstract:
The proposed project investigates the demography and trophic ecology of salmon sharks and Pacific sleeper sharks caught as bycatch in Bering Sea pollock fisheries. Salmon sharks and Pacific sleeper sharks are caught as bycatch at levels between 200 and 1,400 metric tons annually. It is not known if the shark population in Bering Sea can sustain these levels of removal. Very little is known about the life history of these sharks in the Bering Sea or about their role in the ecosystem as top level predators. The PIs propose to use a suite of mathematical population and ecological models to characterize the bycatch of sharks in the Bering Sea pollock fishery and quantify the potential impacts of bycatch on the population. Current information from the Gulf of Alaska on sharks suggests that only segments of the salmon shark population migrate in and out of Alaskan waters and that Pacific sleeper shark have a relatively small home range. This data suggests that the impacts of bycatch may not be consistent among life history stage, sexes, or species. The PIs propose to collect archived data regarding shark population structure and commercial bycatch. In addition the PIs propose to collect data aboard commercial pollock at-sea processors to estimate demographic, reproductive, and diet variables. Considerable support has been offered by the pollock industry, in particular by the At-Sea Processors, to adequately assess the potential impacts of shark bycatch so that informed mitigation efforts can be implemented. The outcome of this study will be an integrated understanding of ecosystem function and likely consequences of the removal of such levels of shark biomass in the Bering Sea.
Back to 2007 PCCRC Funded Projects
2007 PCCRC awards press release
Research projects
Contact PCCRC
Denis Wiesenburg, PCCRC Director
School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
University of Alaska Fairbanks
P.O. Box 757220
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220
Phone: (907) 474-7210
Fax: (907) 474-7204
Email: wiesenburg@sfos.uaf.edu