Carcharhinus plumbeus is a significant component of coastal shark fisheries worldwide (Bass et al. 1973, Compagno 1984b, Last and Stevens 1994, Branstetter and Burgess 1995, Joung and Chen 1995, McAuley et al. 2005). This species is caught with longlines, hook-and-line, and set bottom nets and is also fished with rod and reel by sports anglers as a game fish (Compagno in prep.). Sandbar sharks were found to represent at least 2-3% of the fins auctioned in Hong Kong, the world's largest shark fin trading center (Clarke et al. 2006a). Their fins are generally considered to be of high value, comparable to dusky shark and hammerhead fins (S. Clarke unpubl. Data). Tagging, age and growth studies show that sandbar sharks are a long-lived species with low fecundity and are very vulnerable to over-fishing (Springer 1960, Casey et al. 1985, Sminkey and Musick 1995, 1996; McAuley et al. 2005, 2006). It is an important component of shark fisheries in most areas where it occurs and has been severely overfished in the Northwest and Western Central Atlantic, Mediterranean, Southern Brazil and probably the Northeast Pacific. It has declined from fishing off western Australia and is common but not fished in Hawaiian waters (Romine et al. 2006).

Northwest Atlantic
Along the Atlantic coast of the US, Branstetter and Burgess (1995) reported that this species contributed up to 60% of the catch and 80% of the landings in the directed longline fishery. In addition, the sandbar shark is second only to the blue shark Prionace glauca (a pelagic species) in the US Atlantic recreational shark fishery (Hoff and Musick 1990). During the last 20 years the recreational and commercial fisheries for sharks along the south Atlantic coast of the US and in the Gulf of Mexico have expanded at rapid rates (Anderson 1985, 1990; Casey and Hoey 1985, Hoff and Musick 1990). Recreational catch has been estimated at 2.5 million sharks (c.35,000 t) annually; 20-40% of these are killed (National Marine Fisheries Service 1993). Driven by increased marketability, the commercial fishery has rapidly expanded since 1985, with landings exceeding 7,100 t in 1989 (National Marine Fisheries Service 1993). In the Northwest and Western Central Atlantic sandbar shark stocks were reduced by 85-90% in just 10 years because of over-exploitation. This species continued to support a substantial fishery after such a severe population decline only because of the very large size of the original stock. In addition, the age structure of the population has been shifted dramatically toward younger age classes. Adult females became very uncommon (Musick et al. 1993). Furthermore, the average size of sandbar sharks off Virginia in 2005 had declined to 32% of the size in 1975 (Ha 2006). A Fishery Management Plan was introduced in 1993, on which C. plumbeus is managed as a coastal species. Several states (Virginia, North Carolina, Texas and Florida) also enacted laws to regulate shark fishing in their respective regions (14% of commercial and 64% of recreational catches occur in state controlled waters). Although biomass of the species was reported to have increased by 2002 (Cortes et al. 2002), a recent assessment estimated that the stock is still only 35-47% of virgin biomass and 26-43% of virgin mature abundance in numbers (SEDAR 2006). Further evidence of decline comes from newly available analyses of survey data: A shark-targeted longline research survey from the University of North Carolina, conducted annually between 1972 and 2003 off Cape Lookout has caught 310 sandbar sharks. The standardized CPUE time series for this survey indicates significant declines for sandbar shark amounting to an 86% decline, with no recovery in the latter years of the survey (Myers et al. in prep). A second shark-targeted longline survey conducted in South Carolina in 1983-84 and 1993-1995 shows large significant declines in sandbars, amounting to a 97% decline just over this 13 year time period (Myers et al. in prep). Finally, a trawl survey conducted in Delaware Bay by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control between 1964 and 2004 shows a significant decline rate, that over this 41 year time period amounts to an 84% decline (Myers et al. in prep).

Southwest Atlantic
Intensive fishing by pair trawl, gillnet and beach seine on pupping and nursery grounds is thought to have caused excessively high juvenile mortality to the point of threatening the population of the species in southern Brazil. Fishing with these gears has been intense in this species' habitat during the last 20 years. The company SOPESCA in Rio Grande recorded receipt of 10t of C. plumbeus on 11 February 1983. A record of a typical beach seine catch on 23 February 1983 indicates that 20 individuals of C. plumbeus were caught within a single haul, with seven specimens smaller than 80cm TL (Vooren et al. 2005). No catches of the species were observed during shore fishery monitoring in summer 2003, but neonates of C. plumbeus were common during monitoring of a coastal fishing at depths of 18-60m between Tramandaí and Saint Simão in summer 2005. Neonates of C. brevipinna, C. falciformis and C. signatus were also observed in this area, as well as adults of Carcharias taurus, which is Critically Endangered in this region (Vooren et al. 2005). Carcharhinus plumbeus is also caught off Uruguay and northern Argentina (A. Domingo pers. comm.).

Adults of this species are also caught by pelagic fisheries operating off the Atlantic coast of South America. A number of countries operate longline fleets targeting tuna and swordfish in the high seas areas of the Southwest Atlantic region. In addition to the coastal nations of the Southwest Atlantic, nations including Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Spain, Bolivia, Cape Verde, United Kingdom, China and Barbados also operate vessels here. However, with the exception of Taiwan, (and during certain periods of the year, Korea and Spain), the effort of these fleets is minor compared with other areas of the Atlantic (Bonfil 1994). This species is taken, along with other Carcharhinids in these fisheries (Fowler et al. 2005). Tuna and swordfish longline fisheries now also target sharks due to increasing demand for shark products and the value of their fins (Bonfil et al. 2005, Mejuto et al. 2006).

Mediterranean Sea
Carcharhinus plumbeus is caught with surface and bottom longlines, gillnets and occasionally trawls in the Mediterranean Sea, including in the Sicilian Channel, off Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, Spain, Morocco and Algeria and infrequently elsewhere. There are also anecdotal reports of bycatch of this species in fixed tuna traps (Tonnara) in Sicily. Both coastal and pelagic fishing pressure is high throughout much of the Mediterranean Sea.

This species was common until the 1980s along all the Levantine coasts (Saad et al. 2004), where it was the most dominant species in shark catches (>85%) (Baranes and Ben Tuvia 1978). The sandbar shark C. plumbeus is still the most important shark species captured in this area, however, there has been a significant decline in captures (M. Bradai pers. obs. 2008).

The Gulf of Gabès, Tunisia, and an area off Turkey appear to be important nursery grounds for this species (Capapé 1984, Saidi et al. 2005; Bradai et al. 2006, STECF 2003). There are no recent records of gravid females of this species in the Mediterranean outside of these areas. Constantini and Affronte (2003) report that the northern Adriatic Sea may also be an important nursery area for the species, based on six neonatal sandbar sharks captured with gillnets in this area between 1998 and 2000. The last record of a pregnant female sandbar shark from this area was recorded in 1982 (Constantini and Affronte 2003, Travaglini 1982).

This species was previously regularly seen on fish markets of southern Sicily during the summer months but has not been observed on the same markets in recent years (F. Cigala-Fulgosi and M. Vacchi pers. obs. 2003). A similar situation is apparent in the eastern Adriatic sea (Lipej et al. 2000, A. Soldo pers comm.) and therefore recent publications have described C. plumbeus as an endangered species in the Adriatic Sea (Lipej et al. 2004). However, in Tunisia, the species is regularly landed and observed in fish markets (Bradai et al. 2006).

In the Gulf of Gabès, juvenile C. plumbeus are caught with longlines and trawls and adult females are targeted using specially-designed gillnets (locally known as "kallabia" from "kalb' bhar" (literally sea dog) which means shark in Arabic) during spring and early summer, when they move inshore to pup (Saidi et al. 2005, Bradai et al. 2006). Given the high biological vulnerability of this species to exploitation, the declines observed in other areas of its range where it is taken as a target and bycatch and continuing, unregulated fishing pressure in this area, it is strongly suspected that this stock will also decline.

The species is a known bycatch of pelagic fisheries operating within Mediterranean waters (STECF 2003), but recent records appear to be very rare. While, in the Gulf of Gabès, juvenile C. plumbeus represent a major component in total capture of the pelagic fisheries targeting swordfish (Bradai et al. 2006). In a study of incidental catch of pelagic sharks from the swordfish and tuna fisheries operating throughout the Mediterranean Sea from 1998-2000, only two specimens of C. plumbeus were recorded in one area (the Straits of Sicily) (Megalofonou et al. 2005). Although blue shark, shortfin mako and thresher sharks make up the bulk of shark catch in the Moroccan pelagic driftnet fisheries in the eastern Mediterranean, Carcharhinid species are also known to be taken and landed by this fleet on an occasional basis. Some boats are known to deploy their nets near to the coast (1-2 miles from the shore) to target pelagic sharks (Tudela et al. 2005). Important catches of Carcharhinids such as C. plumbeus are also made in the pelagic longline fishery operating from ports in eastern Algeria (Walker et al. 2005).

Habitat degradation of this species' coastal nursery areas through coastal development and pollution also poses an important threat.

Northwest and Western Central Pacific
This species is a known catch of longline, trawl and set net fisheries operating throughout large areas of this region. It is a known catch of shark longline and tuna gillnet fisheries operating off Indonesia (White et al. 2006). Japanese data on sandbar sharks are limited, but reported landings in Japan's coastal ports show a sharp decline during the period since 1992. At that time landings totaled 126 mt per annum, but this amount decreased to 91 mt in 1995, 21 mt in 2000 and 3 mt in 2004. No CPUE trends are available (Japan Fisheries Agency 2006). In Taiwan, Province of China, catches and sizes have decreased during recent years, particularly in north east waters (Chen et al. 1996).

Australia
Sandbar sharks are an important component of the Western Australian shark fishery. Current total biomass is probably at about 35% of its level prior to the start of full-time northern shark fishing. Current management arrangements in the fishery should arrest any further declines in stock biomass, but continued monitoring and assessment will be essential to monitor the stock, and the effectiveness of these measures. See McAuley et al. (2005) for a summary of the fishery and stock status.