Updated annual catches of blue shark caught by Japanese coastal fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean from 1994 to 2019

This working paper provides update of Japanese annual catch of blue shark (BSH), Prionace glauca, caught by Japanese coastal fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean for 1994-2019. We used the same estimation methods as those used in the previous analysis in 2016. Since the species-specific shark’s data was not included in Japanese official coastal landing data, the catch amounts of BSH caught by multiple coastal fisheries were estimated using several available species-specific data. The proportion of estimated total catch of BSH for both longline fisheries and large-mesh driftnet fishery accounted for more than 97 % of annual total catch amounts. The annual total catch of BSH had increased in 2000s and reached at peak in 2007, and then it gradually decreased until 2019 due to the reduction of catch amounts for longline fisheries. The total catch amounts of BSH were largely fluctuated between 1041 and 4064 MT during 1994 and 2019. The annual trends of catch amounts of BSH were almost similar between previous and updated analyses.