Life Sciences Commons^™

Demographic Analyses Of The Data Limited Silky Shark Population In The Indian Ocean Using A Two-Sex Stochastic Matrix Framework, Wen-Pei Tsai, Yen-Jun Wang, Atsuko Yamaguchi

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

The silky shark, Carcharhinus falciformis, is a common bycatch species of tuna and swordfish longline fishing in the Indian Ocean. The high value of its fins makes it one of the most heavily fished shark species in the world. Concern over declining populations and the uncertainty surrounding its population dynamics has increased the urgency of developing appropriate methods to assess its stock status. This study developed a two-sex stage-based structured matrix model with Monte Carlo simulations to examine silky shark demography and population dynamics. The simulations indicate that, without mortality from fishing, the stock will increase slightly (sex combined mean …