Revision of U.S. shark dead discard estimates for the pelagic longline fishery 1987-2000

A U.S. revision of shark dead discards reported during 1987-2000 was conducted. During that period, three different statistical approaches were used to estimate dead discards. For the period 1987-1995, dead discards of unclassified sharks were reported as ‘coastal’ shark dead discards. From 1996-2000, dead discards reported as ‘Coastal’ and Pelagic’ sharks corresponded to species with low representation in the data and they were re-estimated to the species level using the latest methodology used by the U.S. to estimate dead and live discards of a variety of species.