What Is the Fate of Amputee Sawfish?

Abstract

The sawfishes (Pristidae) are the most threatened of all of the world's shark and ray families, which is largely due to overfishing (Dulvy et al. 2014). There are five extant species of sawfish, all of which possess an enlarged, tooth-lined rostrum (or saw), which has unfortunately been central to their widespread global decline, due to the saw rendering them extremely susceptible to net entanglement (Faria et al. 2013; Dulvy et al. 2014; Whitty et al. 2014). Individuals may suffer mortality during entanglement or be euthanized or desawed prior to net removal for either operator safety or to simplify removal of the sawfish from the net.