Brief presentation of the Portuguese research plan for the improvement of knowledge on pelagic sharks caught in the swordfish fishery in the Indian Ocean

Portuguese longliners targeting swordfish and operating in the Indian Ocean regularly capture elasmobranch fishes as bycatch. Of those, the blue shark (Prionace glauca) and the shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) constitute the two main shark species captured, even though several other species are also occasionally captured. IPMA, the Portuguese Sea and Atmospheric Institute, is responsible for the National Data Collection Program, which maintains fishery observers on those vessels to collect data and samples. Therefore, IPMA has currently the means and opportunity to collect a wide variety of biological samples that are of ultimate importance to the work of the IOCT scientific commission. In this report we present the current Portuguese program research on sharks in the Indian Ocean, and propose the research plans for the near future (over the next 5 years), following IOTC Resolution 13/06.