Thresher Conservation Debate

[FISHIONADO]

I recognize there are strong feelings on both sides but I'm interested to hear arguments for and against taking threshers, either pups or breeders. We should be able to disagree in a civil manner. I apologize for stirring the pot when I was defending a guy on another thread, I was sort of an ass. Owe some of you a cold beer on the water.

Definitely interested in seeing other sources of information. This is what I found when I first considered the topic.

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service:
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/s...n_thresher.htm

Pacific Common Thresher Shark (Alopias vulpinus)

Sustainability Status

Biomass: Unknown; preliminary analyses of common thresher shark catch in the pelagic drift gillnet fishery operating off the U.S. West Coast indicated that the biomass in 2000 was above the biomass supporting the maximum sustainable yield (MSY).

Overfishing: Unknown; Preliminary analyses of common thresher shark catch and effort in the pelagic drift gillnet fishery operating off the U.S. West Coast indicated that the catch-per-unit-effort of thresher sharks was increasing in the late 1990s above historical lows experienced during the early 1990s. Thus, in the U.S. West Coast EEZ, it was estimated that the local population of common thresher shark was not experiencing overfishing at that time, and the population may have been rebuilding.