The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 12: November 1998
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Sri Lankan Shark Fisheries
A news item circulated on the Internet in August 1998 indicated
that the Sri Lankan National Aquatic and Resources Agency
(NARA) had expressed an interest in recent international shark
conservation and management initiatives stimulated by the 1997
meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES).
Sri Lanka is reported to have an annual shark production of
8,000-9,000 tons, or 6% of the country's total fish output. The
country's landings of sharks represent over half of regional landings
from the Bay of Bengal, which are reported as just 11,000-13,000
tons. More than half of the Sri Lankan catch is of silky shark
Carcharinus falciformis, a pelagic species now targeted by oceanic
tuna fisheries. There are good markets for shark meat and fins in
Sri Lanka and large sharks are reportedly now more profitable
than tuna. Most of the country's other 45 recorded species of
shark will also be landed, likely as bycatch in other fisheries.
NARA reports that most of this catch is of juvenile sharks.
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