STATE OF CALIFORNIA NATURAL RESOURCES AGENCY DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE REPORT TO THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION STATUS REVIEW OF WHITE SHARK (Carcharodon carcharias) in CALIFORNIA CHARLTON H. BONHAM, DIRECTOR CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE April 3, 2014 Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................ iii List of Figures .............................................................................................................. iii List of Appendices ....................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... iii List of Acronyms .......................................................................................................... iv Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 4 Petition History............................................................................................................. 4 Federal Status Review ................................................................................................. 4 Department Status Review .......................................................................................... 5 Life History .................................................................................................................... 5 Species Description ..................................................................................................... 5 Genetics ...................................................................................................................... 7 Taxonomy .................................................................................................................... 7 Life Span ..................................................................................................................... 7 Reproduction ............................................................................................................... 8 Food Habits ................................................................................................................. 8 Movements .................................................................................................................. 9 Geographic Range and Distribution ........................................................................... 10 Habitat Essential for Continued Existence of the Species ...................................... 11 Current Distribution .................................................................................................... 12 Young-of-the-Year and Juveniles .............................................................................. 12 Sub-adults and Adults ................................................................................................ 14 Species Status, Abundance and Population Trends in California Waters ............. 17 Abundance Estimates ................................................................................................ 17 Species Status ........................................................................................................... 20 Independent Trends ................................................................................................... 20 Factors Affecting Ability to Survive and Reproduce ................................................ 22 Environmental Contaminants ..................................................................................... 22 Marine Debris ............................................................................................................ 23 Ship Strikes ............................................................................................................... 23 Overexploitation ......................................................................................................... 24 Incidental take in California commercial fisheries ................................................... 24 Status Review of White Shark in California i Large mesh drift gill nets ........................................................................................ 27 Small mesh drift gill nets ........................................................................................ 28 Set gill nets ............................................................................................................ 28 Fishing effort .......................................................................................................... 30 Incidental take in California recreational fisheries .................................................. 32 Incidental take in Mexican fisheries ........................................................................ 33 Incidental take in states or countries other than California and Mexico .................. 35 Predation ................................................................................................................... 36 Disease ...................................................................................................................... 36 Competition and Prey Availability .............................................................................. 36 Young-of-the-year and juvenile white sharks ......................................................... 37 Subadult and adult white sharks ............................................................................ 37 Climate Change ......................................................................................................... 38 Regulatory Status and Existing Management Efforts .............................................. 40 State of California Status and Management Efforts ................................................... 40 Permitting in California ............................................................................................... 45 Scientific collecting permits .................................................................................... 45 CESA take permits ................................................................................................. 45 Status and Management Efforts in Surrounding States ............................................. 46 Federal Status and Management Efforts ................................................................... 46 International Status and Management Efforts ............................................................ 48 Recommendations for Management .......................................................................... 49 Scientific Determinations Regarding the Status of the White Shark in California 51 Present or Threatened Modification or Destruction of Habitat ................................... 51 Overexploitation ......................................................................................................... 52 Predation ................................................................................................................... 52 Competition ............................................................................................................... 52 Disease ...................................................................................................................... 53 Summary of Key Findings .......................................................................................... 53 Listing Recommendations ......................................................................................... 54 Protections Afforded By Listing ................................................................................ 54 References ................................................................................................................... 56 Personal Communications ......................................................................................... 64 Status Review of White Shark in California ii List of Tables Table 1. Records of white shark catch in California commercial fisheries. .................... 26 Table 2. Gill net fishing effort and white shark catch, as recorded in logbooks ............. 27 Table 3. State regulatory history for white shark. .......................................................... 42 Table 4. State regulatory history for set and drift nearshore gill net fisheries. ............... 43 Table 5. State regulatory history for the offshore drift gill net fishery. ............................ 44 List of Figures Figure 1. Known range of white shark in the Northeastern Pacific. ............................... 11 Figure 2. Reported white shark catch in west coast commercial gill net fisheries ......... 22 Figure 3. California laws for closure areas of commercial gill net fisheries. .................. 29 Figure 4. Spatial distribution of set gill net effort and SPOT detections. ........................ 31 List of Appendices Appendix A. Notice History Appendix B. Peer Review Appendix C. Public Comment Acknowledgements This report was authored by E. Hellmers, M. Horeczko, L. Laughlin, and M. Lewis (lead) of the CDFW Marine Region. The authors received assistance from the following current and former CDFW employees: M. Dilts, T. Gallegos, J. Grebel, S. Ingram, T. Larinto, A. Louie, T. Nguyen, K. Pentilla, K. Perry, A. Renth, M. Roberts, R. Shen, C. Shuman,