A revision of the shortfin mako shark catch-at-size in the Atlantic using observer data

Citation
Coelho R, Domingo A, Courtney D, et al (2017) A revision of the shortfin mako shark catch-at-size in the Atlantic using observer data. Collect Vol Sci Pap ICCAT 74:1562–1578
Abstract

As part of an ongoing cooperative program for fisheries and biological data collection within the ICCAT Sharks Species Group, information collected by fishery observers and scientific projects from several fishing nations in the Atlantic (EU-Portugal, Uruguay, Chinese Taipei, USA, Japan, Brazil and Venezuela) was analyzed. Datasets included information on geographic location, size and sex. A total of 36,903 shortfin mako records collected between 1992 and 2015 were compiled, with the sizes ranging from 30 to 366 cm FL (fork length). Considerable variability was observed in the size distribution by region and season, with larger sizes tending to occur in equatorial and tropical regions and smaller sizes in higher latitudes. Most fleets showed unimodal distributions, but in some cases there were bimodal patterns. The distributional patterns presented in this study provide a better understanding of different aspects of the shortfin mako distribution in the Atlantic, and can be used in the 2017 ICCAT SMA stock assessment.