Blue shark

What to check for

Location

North Atlantic

Technical location

Atlantic, Northeast, All areas

Caught by

Net (gill or fixed)

Rating summary

For more information about this rating please visit: http://www.cornwallgoodseafoodguide.org.uk/fish-guide/blue-shark.php

Technical consultation summary

Stock is not overfished or subject to overfishing and management (TAC) has been set in line with advice to keep the stock in this state for the next 10 years. However, there is considerable uncertainty in this assessment, being only 0.1% more likely to be not overfished or subject to overfishing, than in an overfished state but not currently subject to overfishing. Due to this uncertainty route 2 scoring has been applied to the conclusion of the stock assessment, that there is no concern for fishing pressure or biomass. With low resilience, this gives a stock score of 0.5. This species is not heavily targetted in Cornwall, but almost all landings to Cornish ports are by UK vessels and caught in UK waters. Blue shark is predominantly caught as bycatch in offshore gillnet fisheries, however the new tuna fishery could increase landings. Management of this stock treats blue shark as a non-target species resulting in less stringent restrictions. North Atlantic blue sharks are a target species in other European countries, and should be treated as such. Other target species managed by ICCAT require 60% probability for the stocks to not be overfished or experience overfishing in the next decade, for blue shark this is between 50-60%.