Tens of thousands of endangered sharks and rays are caught by small-scale fisheries off the Republic of the Congo each year, new research shows.
Scientists surveyed fish brought ashore at Songolo, which is home to more than 60% of the country's"artisanal" fishers .
The researchers highlighted good news from the study: it shows the area is rich in sharks and rays, including two species previously thought to be locally absent -- the African wedgefish and the smoothback angelshark."The devastating impact of industrial fishing fleets is well documented, but much less is known about the importance of small-scale fisheries," said lead author Dr Phil Doherty, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
"It's bad for fishers because these smaller animals have less meat, and smaller fins for the valuable fin market," he said. He added:"Prolonged fishing by industrial fleets may have taken many of the larger individuals, meaning artisanal fishers have to settle for smaller ones."With many pressures faced by sharks and rays at different life stages, rapid population decline is highly likely."
"For example, we found many juvenile scalloped hammerhead and blacktip sharks are caught at a certain time each year, so limiting fishing for these species at that time could allow populations to begin to recover. As the survey did not take place every day , and more than 30% of the country's artisanal fleet is based at locations other than Songolo, the true numbers of sharks and rays caught is likely to be significantly higher than the 73,268 observed in the study.
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