Centrophorus harrissoni

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	CHONDRICHTHYES	SQUALIFORMES	CENTROPHORIDAE

Scientific Name:

Centrophorus harrissoni

Species Authority:

McCulloch, 1915

Common Name/s:

English

–

Dumb Gulper Shark, Dumb Shark, Harrison's Deepsea Dogfish, Harrison's Dogfish

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Critically Endangered A2bd+3d+4bd ver 3.1
Year Published:	2003
Assessor/s:	Pogonoski, J. & Pollard, D. (SSG Australia & Oceania Regional Workshop, March 2003)
Reviewer/s:	Shark Specialist Group Australia & Oceania Regional Group (Shark Red List Authority) & Graham, K.
Contributor/s:
Justification: Documented declines of over 99% between 1976 to 1977 and 1996 to 1997 between the Sydney area (central New South Wales) and the Eden-Gabo Island Area (southern New South Wales/northern Victoria) by a fishery independent trawl research survey. The relatively narrow continental slope habitat of this species (which is fished throughout its entire depth range) suggests that it may now only be present in any numbers in areas that are non-trawlable. However, as dropline fishers also harvest this species off New South Wales (under New South Wales jurisdiction), further pressure may be placed on it in such areas. As with other deepwater sharks, particularly this genus, the low fecundity (1 to 2 pups maximum every 1 to 2 years), high longevity (closely related species live for at least 46 years according to preliminary ageing studies) and probable late age at first maturity of this species not only result in extremely rapid population depletion in fisheries, but also prevent it from quick recovery after such depletion.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Sporadic in the Western Central and Southwest Pacific: off eastern Australia from the Clarence River, New South Wales, to South East Cape, Tasmania, and the Fraser Seamount, Queensland. Also on seamounts and ridges to the north of New Zealand
Countries:	Native: Australia (New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria); New Zealand
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Indian Ocean – eastern; Pacific – southwest
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	The population size (although suspected to be small) and number and size of subpopulations is unknown.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Demersal on the upper to middle continental slope, mainly in depths of 220 to 790 m (Last and Stevens 1994), although catches have been made as deep as 1,050 m (Daley et al. 2002).The diet of this species consists of teleost fishes (particularly myctophids), cephalopods and crustaceans (Daley et al. 2002). The low fecundity (1 to 2 pups maximum every 1 to 2 years), high longevity (closely related species live for at least 46 years according to preliminary ageing studies by Fenton (2001) and probable late age at first maturity of this species prevent it from quick recovery after sustained fishing of its populations in the last 20 to 30 years (Graham et al. 2001, Daley et al. 2002).
Systems:	Marine

Habitat and Ecology:

Demersal on the upper to middle continental slope, mainly in depths of 220 to 790 m (Last and Stevens 1994), although catches have been made as deep as 1,050 m (Daley et al. 2002).The diet of this species consists of teleost fishes (particularly myctophids), cephalopods and crustaceans (Daley et al. 2002). The low fecundity (1 to 2 pups maximum every 1 to 2 years), high longevity (closely related species live for at least 46 years according to preliminary ageing studies by Fenton (2001) and probable late age at first maturity of this species prevent it from quick recovery after sustained fishing of its populations in the last 20 to 30 years (Graham et al. 2001, Daley et al. 2002).

Systems:

Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Demersal trawling (South East Trawl Fishery, SETF) and droplining (New South Wales Fisheries) along the continental slope within its range. Documented declines of over 99% between 1976 to 1977 and 1996 to 1997 between the Sydney area (central New South Wales) and the Eden-Gabo Island Area (southern New South Wales/northern Victoria) by the trawl research vessel Kapala (fishery independent survey) (Graham et al. 1997, Graham et al. 2001, Andrew et al. 1997). Catches in the above mentioned areas in 220 to 605 m (i.e., most of the preferred depth range of this species) declined from a mean of 28.8 kg/h in 1976 to 1977 to a mean of 0.1 kg/h (a total of only eight specimens) in 1996 to 1997. Centrophorus dogfishes are marketed for their flesh and liver oil (squalene) (Daley et al. 2002).

Major Threat(s):

Demersal trawling (South East Trawl Fishery, SETF) and droplining (New South Wales Fisheries) along the continental slope within its range. Documented declines of over 99% between 1976 to 1977 and 1996 to 1997 between the Sydney area (central New South Wales) and the Eden-Gabo Island Area (southern New South Wales/northern Victoria) by the trawl research vessel Kapala (fishery independent survey) (Graham et al. 1997, Graham et al. 2001, Andrew et al. 1997). Catches in the above mentioned areas in 220 to 605 m (i.e., most of the preferred depth range of this species) declined from a mean of 28.8 kg/h in 1976 to 1977 to a mean of 0.1 kg/h (a total of only eight specimens) in 1996 to 1997. Centrophorus dogfishes are marketed for their flesh and liver oil (squalene) (Daley et al. 2002).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Recent (Jan 2003) management changes to the SETF by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority limit the catch of C. harrissoni to a maximum of 30 kg trunked weight per trip. In addition, livers of Centrophorus are not to be retained unless the individual carcasses from which they were obtained are also landed (J. Stevens, CSIRO, pers. comm. March 2003). Centrophorus harrissoni has also been nominated for listing as an Endangered species on the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). If listed as Endangered, the EPBC Act requires that a Recovery Plan be put in place within a three year period (Sara Williams, Environment Australia, pers. comm. March 2003).

Conservation Actions:

Recent (Jan 2003) management changes to the SETF by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority limit the catch of C. harrissoni to a maximum of 30 kg trunked weight per trip. In addition, livers of Centrophorus are not to be retained unless the individual carcasses from which they were obtained are also landed (J. Stevens, CSIRO, pers. comm. March 2003).

Centrophorus harrissoni has also been nominated for listing as an Endangered species on the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). If listed as Endangered, the EPBC Act requires that a Recovery Plan be put in place within a three year period (Sara Williams, Environment Australia, pers. comm. March 2003).

Citation:	Pogonoski, J. & Pollard, D. (SSG Australia & Oceania Regional Workshop, March 2003) 2003. Centrophorus harrissoni. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 22 May 2013.
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