Species Use Database

Grey reef shark
Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos

Used for Food and feed in Pacific - southwest

A. Species

Scientific name: Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos

Common name(s): Grey reef shark

Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Endangered


B. Location of use

Geographic location(s):

  • Pacific - southwest

Country/Region: Papua New Guinea


C. Scale of assessment

Scale of assessment: Sub-national / Sub-region / Sub-State

Name/Details of location: Milne Bay Province / Asiapac (one of two licensed fish buyers in the Milne Bay Province) in the Provincial capital Alotau.


D. Timescale of use

Start Year: 2016

End Year:


E. Information about the use

How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat

Type of use: Extractive

Practice of use: Targeted fishing harvesting/exploiting or collecting wild aquatic resources

Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal

Does this use involve take/extraction of: Only parts or products of the organism

Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed

Motivation of use: Income generation from trade (individual/household/community) and Largescale commercial exploitation for trade

Is this use legal or illegal?: Legal under national law


F. Information about the Users

Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people


G. Information about the sustainability of use

Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined

Details of assessment carried out: this study

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: this study does not determine sustainability unambiguously

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable

Details of assessment carried out: this study

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: subsistence bolstered by some high-value trade of fins

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable

Details of assessment carried out: this study

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: traditional subsistence fishing bolstered by little high-value trade of fins

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: not recorded

Details of assessment carried out: this study does not analyse human welfare

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: this study does not analyse human welfare

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined

Details of assessment carried out: this study

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The empirical analysis in this study does not examine animal health and welfare, however the authors describe a context in which shark fishing is unsustainable and unethical with regard to welfare.


Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species

Tighter market enforcement under CITES regulated trade, combined with policing unregulated trade. The study explains that World-wide stock assessments of elasmobranch species are severely hampered by the lack of species specific catch and trade data compounded further by catches of sharks from illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fisheries. Lack of ability to monitor sustainability is compounded when accurate morphological and species identifications of individuals (and shark products) are not attainable and when there is Insufficient monitoring of landings, and fisheries, (that are not well regulated) that target elasmobranch species, results in unknown or highly underestimate landing rates. The study presents a genetic method for species identification.


Record source

Information about the record source: scientific_pub

Date of publication/issue/production: 2018-01-01T00:00:00+0000

Source Reference(s):

Appleyard, S. A., White, W. T., Vieira, S., & Sabub, B. (2018). Artisanal shark fishing in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea: biomass estimation from genetically identified shark and ray fins. Scientific reports, 8(1), 1-12.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-25101-8

Date of record entry: 2022-11-10