Taxon name
Carcharhinus limbatus
(Müller & Henle, 1839)
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Carcharhinus limbatus
(Müller & Henle, 1839)
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Vertebrates
Fishes
Species authority
(Müller & Henle, 1839)
Location and scope
Specific locality or subnational name or regional name
United Arab Emirates (the)
Scope (of the Assessment)
National
Countries included within the scope of the assessment
United Arab Emirates (the)
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Not_assigned
Conservation Status
Qualifying criteria (if given)
A2cd
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
Assessment rationale/justification
The Blacktip Shark commonly occurs throughout UAE inshore and offshore waters. It is frequently taken in a wide range of artisanal and commercial fisheries, and is one of the dominant shark species valued for its meat and fins at many landings sites across the Arabian Sea region. Although there are limited data on its status, other Carcharhinus species in the Arabian Gulf have undergone significant declines due to exploitation. It has a relatively low reproductive capacity, which causes it to be susceptible to over-exploitation. It is apparently highly migratory, and has slow life history characteristics including low fecundity and a low annual rate of population increase. Considering this, the species has a low capacity to recover from even moderate levels of exploitation. It is especially susceptible to exploitation (target and bycatch) in many largely unregulated gill net, longline and trawl fisheries that operate within its range outside and surrounding UAE waters. Some management measures are now in place in the Arabian Sea region, although domestic fisheries are likely to continue. Though data specifically from the UAE are not available, individuals in the UAE are a component of a larger, interconnected and migratory population that occurs broadly in the north-western Indian Ocean. It is inferred that declines reported in the Arabian Sea region are representative of its status in the UAE. Based on recorded levels of exploitation and decline in habitat quality, it is suspected to have declined by 30-50% over the past three generation lengths, or about 39 years. It is listed as Vulnerable A2cd.
Assessment details
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Criteria system used
IUCN
Reference for methods given
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Further information
Endemism (according to assessment)
Endemic to region
Not assigned
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
The Blacktip Shark occurs throughout UAE waters. Elsewhere, it is circumglobal in warm temperate, subtropical and tropical waters (Last and Stevens 2009).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
The Blacktip Shark occurs in coastal waters on continental and insular shelves and occasionally offshore to depths of at least 100 m. Size at birth is 38-72 cm total length (TL) (Ebert et al. 2013). Maximum length is 287 cm TL. Females mature about 155-164 cm TL and males from about 143 cm TL (Sudan) to 184 cm TL (UAE) (Jabado et al. 2015; I. Elhassan unpubl. data). Size at birth is 38-72 cm TL (Ebert et al. 2013) with litter sizes from 4-11, with most about 8 (I. Elhassan unpubl. data). There is no ageing data from the region, but information from Indonesia, where maximum size is similar to that recorded from the Arabian Seas region, suggests that maturity occurs at about 8 years and maximum age is about 17 years with a generation length estimated at 13 years (Smart et al. 2015).
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
Information pertaining to threats specific to the UAE are unavailable. This species is impacted by target (for fins and their valuable meat) and bycatch fisheries that are active elsewhere in its range. Inshore fisheries are generally intensive throughout the Arabian Sea region, and in some areas, fishing effort is increasing. Marine habitats in the Gulf are experiencing high levels of disturbance and quickly deteriorating due to major impacts from development activities (including dredging and reclamation), desalination plants, industrial activities, habitat destruction through the removal of shallow productive areas and major shipping lanes (Sheppard et al. 2010).
Publication
Ralph, G.M., Stump, E., Linardich, C., Bullock, R.W., Carpenter, K.E., Allen D.J., Hilton-Taylor, C., Al Mheiri, R., and Alshamsi, O. 2021. UAE National Red List of Marine Species: Reef-building corals, cartilaginous fishes and select bony fishes. 2021. Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.