Jingszo !

Despite the fear they may inspire in humans, sharks have far more reason to fear us. Nearly one-third of sharks are threatened with extinction globally, mostly as a result of fishing.

A team led by researchers at UC Santa Barbara discovered that mandates to release captured sharks won't be enough to prevent the continued decline of these important ocean predators.

The authors collated available data from more than 150 published papers and reports that have measured shark mortality upon hauling (at-vessel) or soon after release (post-release). The literature spanned nearly 150 different shark species caught by different fishing gears. Using this information, they could estimate mortality rates for an additional 341 shark species incidentally captured by longlines or gillnets but for which empirical data wasn't available.

Small sharks and several threatened species were the most likely to die after being caught. These included thresher sharks and hammerheads. Mortality was also higher for smaller species, those that occur in deeper waters and those that rely on constant swimming to breathe.

Mortality was surprisingly high for some species such as smoothhound sharks, ranging from 30 to 65%.