Red Sea Sharks—Biology, Fisheries and Conservation

Abstract

The evolutionary origins of sharks date back more than 400 million years, ranking them among the oldest extant taxa of vertebrates. Sharks are found throughout the world’s oceans, inhabiting coastal waters and open seas, from the surface to depths of 3000 m. Of the more than 500 shark species described to date, only 29 are found in the Red Sea. In this chapter, I summarise the available information on life-history, habitat use, population genetics, fisheries and conservation of sharks in the Red Sea. This information is supplemented with unpublished data on reproductive parameters and shark fisheries that I collected between 2010 and 2014 along the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast. Overall, it is apparent that, relative to other ocean basins, information on shark biology is sparse for the Red Sea. Yet, the presented data is sufficient to clearly indicate strong overfishing of Red Sea shark populations, calling for urgent regional efforts to assess the status of these species and to develop and implement effective management plans to ensure socio-ecological sustainability.