Conservation status of shark fish in the Aceh province coastal area

Biology Education Department, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Aceh, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: ismulhuda@unsyiah.ac.id

Abstract

Shark fishing activities in Aceh Province take place in the Straits of Malacca and the Indian Ocean. Knowledge and understanding of fisher in the coastal areas of Aceh Province regarding shark protection and conservation regulations are still very limited so that the exploitation of sharks has increased. Observations were made in five coastal areas of Aceh Province. The sample in this study is the shark fish fished of fishermen. This study aims to determine the percentage of conservation status based on IUCN and CITES of sharks fish fished by the fishermen in the coastal region of Aceh Province. Data was collected in April-May 2019 using the survey method. Descriptive analysis results showbased on IUCN one species (10%) in the least concern category (LC), five species (50%) in the category of near threatened (NT), two species (20%) in the vulnerable category (VU), one species (10%) in the endangered category (EN), while one species (10%) in the critically endangered category (CR) and based on CITES two species (20%) in category nonendangered species, but if the trade continues without regulations, with extinction, it will be threatened (the Appendix II CITES). From these results, it can be concluded that the sharks caught in the coastal area of Aceh Province as a whole are in the IUCN red list category.