Summary of data from the southwest of England blue shark fishery from 1953-2021

Results from analysis of the Southwest of England recreational blue shark fishery from 19532021 are presented for the purpose of the 2020 ICCAT request for data on the species. During this period 108731 blue sharks were captured for 56650 days fished, giving an overall CPUE of 1.92 fish/trip. CPUE initially peaked during the 1950s between 2.93-4.59 before declining during the 1960s. CPUE reached its lowest value of 0.18 in 2000 with an increasing trend for 20102014. CPUE increased markedly from 2.58 in 2014 to 5.33 in 2015 and peaked at 8.85 fish/trip in 2017 before decreasing slightly during 2018-2021. Immature female fish dominated catches throughout, although both male and female mature fish were present during certain periods.