Why have global shark and ray landings declined: improvement management or overfishing?1 Full names of all authors: Lindsay N.K. Davidson1 Meg A. Krawchuk2 Nicholas K. Dulvy1 Affiliations: 1 Earth to Ocean Research Group, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada 2 Landscape fire and conservation science, Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, College of Forestry, Oregon State University. Author to whom all correspondence and proofs should be sent: Lindsay N.K. Davidson, Biological Sciences, 8888 University Drive, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6,
[email protected] 1 A version of this chapter is published as: Davidson, LNK., Krawchuk, MA., Dulvy, NK. (2016) Why have global shark and ray landings declined: improved management or overfishing? Fish and Fisheries. 17:438-458. doi:10.1111/faf.12119 1.1. Abstract Global chondrichthyan (shark, ray, skate, and chimaera) landings, reported to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), peaked in 2003 and in the decade since have declined by almost 20%. In the FAO’s 2012 “State of the World’s Fisheries and Aquaculture” report, the authors “hoped” the reductions in landings were partially due to management implementation rather than population decline. Here, we tested their hypothesis. Post-peak chondrichthyan landings trajectories from 126 countries were modelled against seven indirect and direct fishing pressure measures and eleven measures of fisheries management performance, while accounting for ecosystem attributes. We found the recent improvement in international or national fisheries management was not yet strong enough to account for the recent decline in chondrichthyan landings. Instead, the landings declines were more closely related to fishing pressure and ecosystem attribute measures.