Starspotted Smooth-hound

About the Starspotted Smooth-hound

The starspotted  smooth-hound is found in the Western Pacific from Russia to Vietnam and off Kenya in the Indian Ocean. It is found on mud and sandy substrates at depths up to 360 m/1,181 ft.

Males reach to a maximum size of 104 cm/ 3.41 ft and live up to 5-9 years; females go up to 135 cm4.43 ft and live up to 9-17 years. The size at birth is 20-35 cm. They feed on crustaceans. They are viviparous and give birth to a litter of 1-22 pups within a 10-12-month gestation period. The mating takes place during the month of May-July. Females mature at 3-7 years and 59-97 cm; males mature at 2-6 years and 54-92 cm/21.3–36.2 in.

This shark is caught in the trawls and longline fisheries. Significant declines have been reported in the Taiwanese waters in the past 10-20 years and have completely disappeared in most of the region, apart from islands off northern Taiwan.

The species is a bycatch of a range of artisanal and industrial gears including demersal trawl, longline, set net, and gillnet, and is retained for human consumption, fish meal, and liver oil. Landings data of all sharks combined from the Taiwan and the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and reconstructed catches of all sharks, skates, and rays from Japan, China, South Korea, Viet Nam, and Borneo EEZs indicate declines of 32–98% over the past three generation lengths (33 years). These levels of declines are not species-specific but are informative for understanding the broader levels of decline in sharks in the region. Fishing pressure is high across the entire spatial and depth range of the Starspotted Smooth-hound. It is a valued species that was targeted in the past. Once common, it is now reported as rare in most of Taiwan and has disappeared from southern Japan. It is also considered currently rare in Viet Nam and Borneo. The inshore and seasonal trawl bans in Taiwan and China waters may afford the species some refuge from fishing pressure. It is suspected that the Starspotted Smooth-hound has undergone a population reduction of 50–79% over the past three generation lengths (33 years) due to levels of exploitation, and it is assessed as Endangered A2d.

The species is valued for its meat and fins (Dent and Clarke 2015, Fields et al. 2018). In Japan, the meat is flash boiled and sold as ubiki with mid-range market value in areas of southern Japan (A. Yamaguchi pers. comm. 28/08/2019). Smaller individuals may be used for fish meal in Taiwan and China, and in the latter country, the meat is valuable and the species is also used for the liver oil (J. Zhang unpubl. data 2019). In Borneo, the meat it is consumed domestically and the fins are traded (Last et al. 2010, A. Bin Ali unpubl. data 2020).

No specific measures are in place. In China, since the late 1990s, regulations have specified varying annual seasonal fishing closures on commercial demersal trawling in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and in the South China Sea to 12⁰N (Yu and Yu 2008). Trawling is banned all year round in the Bohai Sea (Yu and Yu 2008). The closure times have varied over the years and between regions, but most now commence in May and are in place for 3–4 months. In 2018, this seasonal closure was widened to also include all other commercial fishing gears (e.g. gillnet and longline) with the only exception being for rod and reel to allow small-scale artisanal fisheries and recreational fisheries (Zhang unpubl. data 2019). Since 2017, enforcement of the seasonal closure has strengthened (Chen unpubl. data 2019). The effectiveness of the closures is debatable as overfishing remains a threat (Yu and Yu 2008, Pauly and Liang 2019). Some of the species range may be protected along the China coastline as it is estimated that ~20% of the coastline is included in Protected Areas (MacKinnon et al. 2012).

In Taiwan, there is a prohibition on using any net fishing gear (e.g. trawls, seine nets) in 68 reef areas (Fisheries Agency 2019). Since 1999, all demersal trawling is prohibited within 3 nautical miles (nm) of the coast and within 12 nm for trawlers larger than 50 Gross Registered Tonnage (Fisheries Agency 2019, Liao et al. 2019). Since the mid–2000s, gillnets have been banned within 3 nm in parts of five counties with a policy of gradual removal of gillnets from within 3 nm of the entire coast and government assistance to transition to line and troll fishing (Fisheries Agency 2019, Liao et al. 2019). Since 2005, shark fins must be naturally attached on vessels that use ice to preserve the catch (Fisheries Agency 2019, Liao et al. 2019). This species may be protected in some of the ~32 Protected Areas which cover ~38% of the Taiwan coastline and ~47% of Taiwan territorial seas, with no-entry and no-take areas accounting for 0.9% and 4.6% of the territorial seas, respectively (MacKinnon et al. 2012, Fisheries Agency 2019, Liao et al. 2019). In Japan, management measures have been implemented since the mid-1990s to control fishing effort that include total allowable catches, seasonal closures, and gear restrictions (White Paper 2015). In Viet Nam, there is a prohibition on destructive fishing practices, and some fisheries regulations, however, enforcement and compliance is limited (Teh et al. 2014). There are at least three Marine Protected Areas (Hon Mun, Cu Lao Cham, and Con Dao) with an aim to preserve 2% of the marine area (FAO 2020a). In the Philippines, active fishing gears, including trawlers, were prohibited within municipal marine waters (<3 nautical miles from shore). in 1981, there were 5-year closures of the trawl fisheries in the waters of Bohol, Cebu, and Negros Oriental and in 1983 in Batangas (Palomares and Pauly 2014, FAO 2020b). Trawlers within commercial waters have been required since 2010 to use Juvenile and Trashfish Turtle Excluder Devices under the Fisheries Administrative Order 237 series of 2010. (D. Tanay unpubl. data 2020), which may reduce the retention of larger sharks and rays (Brewer et al. 2006). There are ~>1,800 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) (NFRDI 2017, CTI 2020). Some of these MPAs are known to provide shark and ray protection including Donsol, Malapascua, Cagayancillo MPAs, and Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (NFRDI 2017, Murray et al. 2018). Throughout Malaysia there are 51 MPAs making up 5,462 km2 that may provide some refuge to this species (CTI 2020). Further research is needed on population size and trends, and catches should be monitored.

To conserve the population and to permit recovery, a suite of measures will be required which may include species protection, spatial management, bycatch mitigation, and harvest and trade management measures (including international trade measures). Effective enforcement of measures will require ongoing training and capacity-building (including in the area of species identification). Catch monitoring is needed to help understand population trends and inform management.

 

 

 

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