The harvest strategy for school shark recommended by SharkMAC after consideration of the November 1996 assessment will need to be revisited. This is because the spatially-structured assessment of school shark represents a major change to the understanding of the dynamics of school shark stocks. The current harvest strategy was based on the results of an assessment that accounted for spatial-structure in only an approximate manner. Other reasons for the need to re-evaluate the harvest strategy for school shark are that it was not selected with direct reference to AFMAs legislative objectives and that it does not explicitly define how additional information (e.g. additional catch-rate data) would be utilised in the calculation of future TACs.

No harvest stategy currently exists for gummy shark. This is one of the reasons that SharkMAC have had some difficulties in recommending a TAC for 1998/1999 for this species. At its 25 - 27 March 1998 meeting, SharkMAC requested that SharkFAG develop a harvest startegy for gummy shark.

This project also addresses two key research areas in subprogram (B) of the Wild Stock Program of the SCFA Research Committee to some extent: "Biological and socio-economic evaluation of alternative management scenarios for different species and categories of fishery to provide a framework for management planning" and "The evaluation and provision of harvest stategy models though comparison of management strategies using theory and case studies; establishment of objective performance indicators for different fisheries and identification of options appropriate to the nature of the fishery".