Shark fisheries in Argentina

CHIARAMONTE, GUSTAVO ENRIQUE

Marine and Freshwater Research

CSIRO Publishing

Lugar: Collingwood; Año: 1998 vol. 49 p. 601 - 609

In the Argentine Sea there are about 35 species of sharks. Three species are subjected todirected fishing: the smoothhound Mustelus schmitti, the school shark Galeorhinus galeus and thecopper shark Carcharhinus brachyurus. Other species of elasmobranchs with commercial importanceare the angel shark Squatina spp. and several species of skates and rays. The rise in chondrichthyandeclared landings registered from 1988 to 1996 is due to the increase in landings of smoothhound andrays. The most important directed shark fishery in the South-West Atlantic is the Necochea gill-netfishery for school shark, which is carried out by the coastal fleet; details are given of the ships and thegill-nets used in this area. The length frequencies of the catches by gill-nets are presented for the schoolshark; fishing effort (length (km) of net in the water per ship per day) and CPUE (number of sharks perfishing effort) were found not to be good indicators of population trends in the school shark fishery.