2019 IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group Report

IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group

2019 Report

Nicholas Dulvy Colin Simpfendorfer

Co-Chairs Mission statement Plan Nicholas Dulvy (1) To secure the conservation, management and, Planning: (1) develop a conservation strategy Colin Simpfendorfer (2) where necessary, the recovery of the world’s for Wedgefishes and Guitarfishes; (2) organise sharks, rays and chimaeras by mobilising global a Mediterranean Angel Sharks: Regional Action Red List Authority Coordinator technical and scientific expertise to provide the Plan workshop for Angel Sharks. Peter Kyne (3) knowledge that enables action. Research activities: advance the shark and ray Marine Protected Area (MPA) project. Location/Affiliation Projected impact for the 2017-2020 Act (1) Earth to Oceans Research Group, quadrennium Policy: (1) provide policy advice on the use Department of Biology, Simon Fraser University, By the end of 2020, we envision a substantial of Red List categories and criteria in fisheries Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada advance in reducing the extinction risk of the management to the International Council for the (2) College of Science and Engineering, James top three most threatened groups of chon- Exploration of the Sea (ICES); (2) provide policy Cook University, Townsville, Australia drichthyans, namely the Sawfishes, Angel advice on chondrichthyans to the Convention (3) Research Institute for the Environment and Sharks, and Guitarfishes. Eight regional and on Migratory Species (CMS). Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Australia two thematic workshops will be undertaken Research activities: (1) creation of EDGE (Evolu- to inform updated Red List assessments for tionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) Number of members all remaining chondrichthyans (942 species), Sharks with Zoological Society of London (ZSL); 176 thereby informing conservation prioritisation (2) begin funding and development of a sawfish beyond these most threatened groups moving sightings database. Social networks forward. Technical advice: (1) provide advice on shark Facebook: IUCN Shark Specialist Group and ray conservation priorities to donors, Instagram: shark_specialist_group Targets for the 2017-2020 quadrennium including the Shark Conservation Fund; Twitter: @IUCNshark (2) provide advice on reintroduction to zoos and Assess Website: https://www.iucnssg.org/ aquaria; (3) provide advice as part of progress Policy: develop a Living Planet Index for YouTube: IUCN Shark Specialist Group reporting on implementation of the Protocol Chondrichthyans. for Specially Protected Areas and Biodiversity Red List: (1) complete nine hundred and forty- Information on the reporting party; (4) advance five assessments/reassessments through eight national shark report card work. regional and two thematic workshops (all chon- Network drichthyans not recently assessed); (2) develop Synergy: create a collaborative network focused a Global Red List Index for chondrichthyans; (3) on wedgefish and guitarfish conservation. predict the conservation status for all species assessed as Data Deficient. Communicate Communication: (1) launch the Sawfish Prog- ress and Priorities report; (2) raise awareness about extinction risk in sawfishes; (3) maintain an active and engaged Shark Specialist Group membership; (4) make contributions to the SSC e-Bulletin. Technical advice: provide advice to Humane Society International. Critically Endangered Bowmouth Guitarfish Rhina ancylostoma, Newport Aquarium Photo: Justin Cain

Activities and results 2019

Assess Policy i. A Living Planet Index was developed for Oceanic sharks and rays; others are in progress. (KSR #11, 12) Red List i. One-hundred and sixty-three assessments were published. Workshops were held to assess ~300 species of sharks and rays in the South- east Pacific, Northwest Atlantic, and Northwest Pacific. These are being written up for publica- tion in 2020. (KSR #1) ii. We developed Red List Indices for: (1) wedgefishes and giant guitarfishes (16 species); (2) pelagic sharks (31 species); (3) Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea (127 species). (KSR #3) iii. A paper was accepted in Biological Conser- vation: Walls et al. ‘Predicting the conservation Rhynchobatus australiae after processing at Kota Kinabalu market, Sahab, Malaysia status of Data Deficient species in the North- Photo: Peter Kyne east Atlantic and Mediterranean’. (KSR #1) Plan Planning i. A paper was published summarising extinction risk in guitarfishes and wedgefishes; we submitted a wedgefish and guitarfish motion to IUCN for the World Conservation Congress 2020; proposal for concerted action submitted to CMS. (KSR #15) ii. An expert workshop was hosted by the Shark Trust at the National Institute of Sciences and Technologies of the Sea (INSTM) in Salammbô, Tunisia, from 25–27 March 2019, to initiate the development of the Mediterranean Angel Sharks: Regional Action Plan. (KSR #15) Research activities i. The Shark and Ray MPA Project is nearing its completion. It is a multi-disciplinary project that is aimed at providing guidance on the design The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group met in Cali, Colombia in February to assess 100 sharks and rays that are endemic to the Eastern Central and Southeast Pacific for the IUCN Red List Photo: SSG archives

of MPAs that will be optimal for achieving conservation objectives for sharks and rays. The project has developed new metrics for quantifying shark and ray movements to help inform the scale of movements relative to MPA size and applied this to large sets of satellite, acoustic and conventional tagging data. Individ- ual-based movement models have been developed to enable the use of these movement metrics in the assessment of MPA efficacy, with a case study for coral reef sharks being recently published. Socioeconomic research has identified indicators that predict the success of MPAs in achieving positive outcomes for sharks and rays, with five key factors identified. An online tool has been developed to allow practitioners to explore the potential benefits of MPAs for shark and ray conservation efforts at a national or regional level. This tool also collates a broad range of other data, including Red List status, An expert workshop was hosted by the Shark Trust at life history parameters, distributional infor- the National Institute of Sciences and Technologies of mation, and more, to enable users to eval- the Sea (INSTM) in Salammbô, Tunisia from the 25th – 27th March 2019 to initiate the development of this uate a broad range of data relative to MPA Mediterranean Angel Sharks: Regional Action Plan planning. Recent publications: (1) Dwyer, R.G., Photo: SSG archives et al. (2020). Individual and population benefits of marine reserves for reef sharks. Current Biology 30:480–489.e485; (2) Mizrahi, M.I., et al. (2019). Global opportunities and challenges for Shark Large Marine Protected Areas. Biolog- ical Conservation 234:107–115; (3) Mizrahi, M.I., et al. (2019). A systematic review of the socioeconomic factors that influence how marine protected areas impact on ecosystems and livelihoods. Society & Natural Resources 32:4–20; (4) MacKeracher, T., Diedrich, A. and Simpfen- dorfer, C.A. (2019). Sharks, rays and marine protected areas: A critical evaluation of current perspectives. Fish and Fisheries 20:255–267. (KSR #26, 32) Act Network and the Zoological Society of London. Funding Policy Synergy was graciously provided by the Shark Conser- vation Fund, the Disney Conservation Fund, i. Policy advice provided to the Convention on i. There are sixty-six members in the network; Migratory Species for the following: Appendix two newsletters have been sent to 96 people The Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conserva- I: Oceanic Whitetip Shark (Carcharhinus (combined with sawfish as ‘rhino rays’). tion Fund, the National Science and Engineering longimanus); Appendix II: Smooth Hammerhead (KSR #29) Research Council of Canada and the Canada Research Chairs Program, and the Save Our (Sphyrna Zygaena), Tope Shark (Galeorhinus Communicate galeus); Concerted Actions: Common Guitarfish Seas Foundation. Communication (Rhinobatos rhinobatos), Bottlenose Wedgefish i. International Sawfish Day was a success (Rhynchobatus australiae), Largetooth Sawfish Summary of activities 2019 again; two ‘Rhino Rays’ newsletters were (Pristis pristis), Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis produced. (KSR #15) Components of Species Conservation Cycle: 5/5 pectinata). (KSR #27) ii. Five articles were included in SSC Species Assess 4 |||| Research activities e-Bulletin. (KSR #28, 29) Plan 3 ||| i. EDGE Sharks and Rays event with ZSL: 162 Act 3 ||| people registered from 7 countries; 35% Acknowledgements Network 1 | were potential funders or partners; 90 people attended. (KSR #17) The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group would like Communicate 2 || Technical advice to thank all of our funders, partners, collabo- Main KSRs addressed: 1, 3, 11, 12, 15, 17, 26, rators, and workshop participants. In partic- i. National shark report card work was 27, 28, 29, 32 ular, special thanks are due to Rob Bullock, Ed presented to a National Shark Conservation Resolutions addressed: WCC-2016-Res-016 Brooks, Emily Brown, Patricia Charvet, Martin Summit in early 2019. This Report Card covers KSR: Key Species Result Clark, Zoe Crysler, Marc Dando, Al Dove, Brit and assesses 194 Species (199 stocks); of these, Finucci, Laetitia Hannan, Katelyn Herman, 124 stocks have been assessed to be sustain- Rima Jabado, Peter Kyne, Paola Mejía-Falla, able at current levels of fishing. Many are Kira Mileham, Andrés Navia, Caroline Pollock, managed through fishing regulations. Others Riley Pollom, Gina Ralph, Cassie Rigby, Eric are sustainable, because the level of fisheries Schneider, Brendan Talwar, Wade VanderWright, taken is very small. For example: for the Gummy Rachel Walls, Atsuko Yamaguchi, and Helen Shark (Mustelus antarcticus; southern stock), Yan. Thanks are also due to institutional part- nine stocks are recovering, six were depleting, ners including the Angel Shark Project, Bristol 18 were depleted and 42 were undefined due Aquarium, Cape Eleuthera Institute, Charles to very limited information on which to base Darwin University, the Faculty of Fisheries at the assessments. The full report is available here: University of Nagasaki, the IUCN Red List Unit, https://www.fish.gov.au/shark-report-card. the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, the (KSR #27) IUCN SSC Chair’s Office, James Cooke Univer- sity, the Shark Trust, the Squalus Foundation, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,