Fisheries that catch elasmobranch species in the United States can be divided into four general categories: directed commercial, incidental commercial, directed recreational, and incidental recreational. Directed fisheries are those that target sharks, skates and rays, whereas incidental fisheries catch sharks secondarily while fishing for other species. In virtually every fishery there are incidental catches or bycatch of sharks. Gillnet, longline, trawl, purse seine, pot, and hand-gear fisheries all experience some level of shark catches with varying levels of shark bycatch and bycatch mortality. Some fisheries have both catch and bycatch of sharks in that some species are retained while others are discarded, depending on market value.
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