Elasmobranch - describes a group of fish without a hard bony skeleton, including sharks, skates, and rays.

This report describes the population biology and fishery management of elasmobranchs at regional, national and sub-regional levels - in Atlantic Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, Guatemala, South Africa, Uruguay, the Falkland Islands, the Seychelles, two states in India, the Maldives, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Fiji and Ecuador. Regional accounts are given of management of Galeorhinus galeus, deepwater sharks and elasmobranch considerations of a tuna commission. NGO elasmobranch activities are described and an analysis of the quality of the relevant data in the FAO Nominal Catches and Landings Data Base. The topics of the resource, fishery and associated species, current status of fisheries and harvesting processes are described together with the evolution of the catch, fleet, fishing effort, commerce, fishery markets and revenues from the fishery. Comments on the economics of the fishery and nature of the workforce are also given. In relation to fisheries administration, management objectives and national fisheries policies are described and the manner of the planning process. Where applicable, the objectives setting process, relevant stakeholders and the handling of management negotiations are noted. The nature of gear restrictions and their effectiveness together with vessel regulations and where they exist, on catch, closed seasons, effort limitations, etc., are described Where management planning occurs, the provision of resource management advice together with a description of the departments involved and management activities are described. Several papers review stock assessment activities plus descriptions and analyses of the biological advice review process with comments on the sustainability of the resource. National accounts describe the relevant law and enforcement processes. The report consists of two parts.

The Darwin Elasmobranch Biodiversity Conservation and Management project in Sabah held a three-day international seminar that included a one-day workshop in order to highlight freshwater and coastal elasmobranch conservation issues in the region and worldwide, to disseminate the result of the project to other Malaysian states and countries, and to raise awareness of the importance of considering aspects of elasmobranch biodiversity in the context of nature conservation, commercial fisheries management, and for subsistence fishing communities. These proceedings contain numerous peer-reviewed papers originally presented at the seminar, which cover a wide range of topics, with particular reference to species from freshwater and estuarine habitats. The workshop served to develop recommendations concerning the future prospects of elasmobranch fisheries, biodiversity, conservation and management. This paper records those conclusions, which highlight the importance of elasmobranchs as top marine predators and keystone species, noting that permanent damage to shark and ray populations are likely to have serious and unexpected negative consequences for commercial and subsistence yields of other important fish stocks.

This volume offers a collection of papers on the quantitative assessment of age and growth in Chondrichthyan fishes. It details new hard parts for assessments of age, such as caudal thorns; new techniques like bomb radiocarbon for validation; and reexaminations of previous age and growth models. It also examines the importance of assessing the precision and accuracy of statistical formulas, analyses, and models used in age and growth studies.

Skates have become a concern in recent years due to the preponderance of these elasmobranchs that are caught as bycatch or as a directed fishery. This has raised concern because skates have life history characteristics that may make them vulnerable to over-exploitation. It was due to this concern that prompted Drs. David Ebert and James Sulikowski to organize an international symposium on the “Biology of Skates”. The aims and goals of the symposium were to bring together an international group of researchers to meet, discuss, perhaps develop collaborations, and present their most recent findings. The symposium was held over two days, on 13-14 July, 2006, in conjunction with the 22nd annual meeting of the American Elasmobranch Society in New Orleans, LA. A total of 31 authors from four countries contributed 16 papers that appear in this volume. The papers are broadly arranged into four separate categories: systematics and biogeography, diet and feeding ecology, reproductive biology, and age and growth. This is the first dedicated book on the biology of skates. We hope that readers will find this volume of interest and that it helps encourage and stimulate future research into these fascinating fishes.