Salmon shark caught on a research cruise in southeast Alaska.

Pacific sleeper sharks caught on a research vessel in the Gulf of Alaska.

There are three species of sharks that are abundant in Alaska waters: Pacific sleeper shark, Somniosus pacificus, spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias, and salmon shark, Lamna ditropis. Currently there is no directed fishing for these species, but they are caught incidentally in other fisheries. Little is known about these sharks’ life histories in Alaska, but research on their ages, natural mortality, movements, diets, and maturity is ongoing.

Pacific sleeper sharks range as far north as the arctic circle in the Chukchi Sea, west off the Asian coast and the western Bering Sea, and south to California. Pacific sleepers are the most commonly caught shark in the NMFS Bering Sea trawl surveys, and the largest (up to 7 meters, most commonly 1-3 meters). They feed mostly on fish, cephalopods, and sometimes marine mammals, and although they were once thought to be bottom dwelling, it is now known that they inhabit much more of the water column.

Spiny dogfish range from the Bering Sea to the Baja Peninsula, and worldwide in non-tropical waters. Spiny dogfish are the most commonly encountered shark on the NMFS trawl surveys in the Gulf of Alaska. This species may once have been the most abundant living shark. However, it is commercially fished worldwide and has been heavily depleted in many locations.

Salmon sharks range from Japan through the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska and south to Baja, Mexico. Salmon sharks are rarely encountered in commercial fisheries or trawl surveys. Research on this species shows that they can migrate thousands of kilometers south in the winter, and that they feed primarily of concentrations of migratory salmon in the summer, but that they also feed on other fishes including: sablefish, rockfish, eulachon, spiny dogfish, arrowtooth flounder, and cods.

Contact:
Cara Rodgveller
Auke Bay Laboratories
Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries

Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute
17109 Pt Lena Loop Rd
Juneau AK 99801
Cara.Rodgveller@noaa.gov

Featured Research, Publications, Posters, Reports, and Activities

• CINDY TRIBUZIO, DAVID CLAUSEN, CARA RODGVELLER, JONATHAN HEIFETZ, and DORIS ALCORN. 2008. Research, Biology, and Management of Sharks and Grenadiers in Alaska. AFSC Quarterly Report Feature (April-May-June 2008) 9 p. (.pdf, 656KB).  Online.
   
• COURTNEY, D. L., and L. HULBERT. 2007. Shark research in the Gulf of Alaska with satellite, sonic, and archival tags, p. 26-27. In P. Sheridan, J. W. Ferguson, and S. L. Dowling (editors), Report of the National Marine Fisheries Service Workshop on Advancing Electronic Tag Technologies and Their Use in Stock Assessments. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-F/SPO-82. 
   
• SIGLER, M. F., L. B. HULBERT, C. R. LUNSFORD, N. THOMPSON, K. BUREK, G. O’CORRY-CROWE, and A. C. HIRONS. 2006. Diet of Pacific sleeper shark, a potential Steller sea lion predator, in the northeast Pacific Ocean. J. Fish. Biol. 69:392-405. 
   
• Tag Retention and Effects of Tagging on Movement of the Giant Red Sea Cucumber
  
  
• Southeast Alaska: Oceanographic Habitats and Linkages
  
  
• The Potential Role of Water-column Stability and Nutrients in Structuring the Zooplankton Community
  
  
• Stock-Structured Distribution of Western Alaska Juvenile Chinook Salmon From United States BASIS Surveys, 2002-07
  
  
• BASIS Symposium Held in Seattle
  
  
• Spatial Distribution, Energetic Status, and Food Habits of Eastern Bering Sea Age-0 Walleye Pollock
  
  
• GOA Sharks SAFE report (.pdf, 51KB).
• BSAI Sharks SAFE report (.pdf, 353KB).

See the publications and poster databases for additional listings.