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Marine Biology

William & Mary

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Shark populations

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Trends In Shark Abundance From 1974 To 1991 For The Chesapeake Bight Region Of The U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coast, John A. Musick, Steven Branstetter, James A. Colvocoresses Sep 1993

Trends In Shark Abundance From 1974 To 1991 For The Chesapeake Bight Region Of The U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coast, John A. Musick, Steven Branstetter, James A. Colvocoresses

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Recent stock assessments indicate that the shark stock of the western North Atlantic is exploited at a rate twice the maximum sustainable yield. This finding is supported by data generated by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science longline program for sharks of the. Chesapeake Bay and adjacent coastal waters. Trends in catch per unit of effort since 1974 indicate 60-80% reductions in population size for the common species - sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus) , dusky (C. obscurus) , sand tiger (Odontaspis taurus), and tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) sharks. Declines include numbers of individuals for all species, size classes within species, and in …


Early Life-History Implications Of Selected Carcharhinoid And Lamnoid Sharks Of The Northwest Atlantic, Steven Branstetter Aug 1990

Early Life-History Implications Of Selected Carcharhinoid And Lamnoid Sharks Of The Northwest Atlantic, Steven Branstetter

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The size of most newborn sharks makes them susceptible to predation from their own kind and other large fishes. In the northwestern Atlantic, juvenile nursery grounds can be generally classified according to whether or not the young are exposed to such predatory risk. Several related factors-breeding frequency, litter size, size at birth, early growth rate-may help offset early natural mortality. These factors are counterbalanced by the different species in several different ways, producing numerous early life history strategies. In general, slow growing species are either born at relatively large sizes or use protected nursery grounds, whereas faster growing species tend …