Biology and management of dogfish sharks

BOOK REVIEWBiology and management of dogfish sharksEdited by V. F. Gallucci, G. A. McFarlane andG. G. BargmannBethesda, Maryland, USA, American FisheriesSociety, 2009423 pp, ISBN-13: 978-1-934874-07-3. $69.00(hardback)This book comprises 34 chapters (35 including theinitial keynote paper), each written as a stand-alonescientific paper, that are grouped in functionalcategories. The keynote paper is followed by 11papers addressing Distribution and Abundance, 6papers on Age, Growth and Reproduction, 6 paperson Ecology and Physiology, and 10 papers onFisheries, Assessment and Management, and Con-servation. Some of the papers are based uponpresentations that were given at the First Interna-tional Symposium on the Management and Biologyof Dogfish Sharks, held in Seattle, WA in 2005.Even though the book is titled ‘Biology andManagement of Dogfish Sharks’, most papers dealexclusively with the spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthiasLinnaeus, 1758. Traditionally, the spiny dogfish hasbeen the most fished, impacted upon and studied ofall squaloid sharks (dogfishes). In fact it is one of themost fished and studied of all sharks. While thestudies in this book addressing a vulnerable andimpacted species are most welcome, it would havebeen nice to see greater breadth by devoting a largerportion of the volume to less well-studied but morethreatened deepwater squaloids. Only two papers inthe book deal with squaliform sharks as a group,specifically papers addressing fossil records and theorigin of Squaliformes (chapter 2) and molecularapproaches to the study of dogfishes (chapter 20).The only other paper that focuses on another dogfishspecies is chapter 12, which describes the distribu-tion and abundance of both Squalus acanthias andSqualus blainville (Risso, 1827) in the Mediterra-nean.Most papers presented are based on studies of NEPacific spiny dogfish populations in Canada and theUnitedStates,whichmayactuallyrepresentadistinctspecies, Squalus suckleyi (Girard, 1855) (see Wardet al. 2007 for a discrimination of the genus Squalusbased on DNA barcoding), with only a few worksdealing with other geographically disparate popula-tions. The current IUCN Red List assesses the spinydogfish as globally ‘Vulnerable’ (Fordham et al.2006), with the Atlantic and the Mediterraneanpopulations probably representing the areas of high-estconcern.TheMediterraneanandtheNWAtlanticpopulations are currently assessed as ‘Endangered’and the NE Atlantic population is assessed as‘CriticallyEndangered’,whiletheNEPacificpopula-tion is listed as ‘Vulnerable’. Therefore, it is a bitdisappointing that the volume has so few papersaddressing populations and regions where spinydogfish populations are in more urgent need of bettermanagement and protection.The keynote paper presents an excellent review ofthe spiny dogfish fishery in Canadian Pacific waterswith descriptions of the various fisheries that haveimpacted the species since the nineteenth centuryand a summary of the species’ life history traits in theregion. The ‘Distribution and Abundance’ sectionbegins with a fine study on the fossil record andorigin of Squaliformes sharks, and is followed by sixpapers that deal in detail with the distribution,abundance, movements and population trends ofspiny dogfish in the Strait of Georgia and PugetSound. The last four papers of this section deal withpopulations of spiny dogfish occurring elsewhere,with one paper focusing on the distribution andabundance in Alaskan waters, one paper describingthe captures off the Northern Kuril Islands and thesoutheastern Kamchatka Peninsula (Pacific Russianwaters), one paper focusing on spiny dogfish over-wintering aggregations in North Carolina (AtlanticUS waters), and the last paper describing Mediter-ranean Sea biomass estimates of Squalus acanthiasand S. blainville derived from fishery-independenttrawl data.The second section of the book links six papersdealing with life history under the heading, ‘Age,Growth and Reproduction’. Of particular note is theage validation of the Puget Sound population basedon oxytetracycline-injected specimens that lived inthe wild for up to 20 years. Other chapters documentage, growth and reproduction in the NE Pacific andthe NWAtlantic, and reproduction in the populationoff Patagonia, Argentina.The ‘Ecology and Physiology’ section covers awide range of subjects, starting with an interestingstudy on the physiological responses of spiny dogfishto the stress subsequent to being caught by ottertrawl. An overview of the contribution of moleculargenetics to the study of dogfishes, including phylo-genetics, evolution, population structure andMarine Biology Research, 2010; 6: 415 416