| Summary: | In this report we present, for seven of the fourteen key shark species, information on the geographicrange of catches; temporal trends in catch composition and catch rates; and key biological indicatorsof fishing pressure such as mean size and sex ratio. Whale sharks are assessed separately due tothe unique nature of their interactions with WCPO fisheries. The analysis generally follows theframework first developed and described in the Shark Research Plan (Clarke and Harley, 2010).This analysis provides indicative trends for silky shark, oceanic whitetip, mako shark, blue shark,whale sharks and porbeagle sharks, but more limited inferences are possible for hammerhead andthresher shark species complexes, largely due to lack of data. These species are not commonlycaught in the primary fisheries in the WCPO, and are historically not well reported.Where possible we have included observer data for 2014, but note that these data are incompleteand certain inferences from these data should be made with caution.
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