Major world fisheries for elasmobranchs are described in regard to their importance, recent trends, problems for assessment and management, conservation and the outlook for their sustainability. The analysis considers trends and outlooks in FAO's statistical areas, individual accounts of fisheries by the major elasmobranch fishing nations and the high seas fisheries that have significant by catches of elasmobranchs. Information on species, gears, patterns of exploitation, research and management of elasmobranchs is summarized for each of these countries. The general problems in appraising and managing elasmobranch fisheries and the need for conservation are discussed and possible solutions for some of these problems are proposed.

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This publication contains a compilation of statistics on nominal catches of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals, residues and plants from capture fisheries worldwide, with the exclusion of aquaculture production. The statistics are presented by country or territory, species, major fishing area and various aggregations, for a varying series of recent years ending in 2002. The data are based on officially reported national statistics, or where these are lacking or are considered unreliable, from FAO estimates based on the best information available. A separate volume is also available with fishery statistics relating to aquaculture production (ISBN 9250051530).