Tope (Galeorhinus galeus) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 11

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Existing Protection or Other Status Designations

The IUCN lists tope as vulnerable (VU A1bd) globally based on its history of stock collapse in the northeast Pacific as well as from a reduction in the global population over the last 60 -75 years (Stevens 2000). In Canada’s Pacific waters, no sharks, with the exception of spiny dogfish, can be retained, thereby removing any incentive to catch any shark species including tope. Tope caught by trawl can be landed; however, this gear type has caught very few in Canadian waters.