In Maltese waters, blue sharks are caught using longlines.
In areas where blue sharks are not targeted commercially, they are often caught as bycatch on driftnet and longline fisheries.
It is usually available during the summer months.
The skin of a female blue shark is three times thicker than that of males in order to withstand the extensive courtship bites.
All Shark species are slow to mature and are vulnerable to overfishing. Globally, the Blue Shark is taken in large numbers (an estimated 20 million individuals annually), mainly as bycatch, but many catches are unreported. The status of the population remains unknown, but concern over the number of individuals caught every year has given this species a ‘Near Threatened’ classification by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). fish for tomorrow recommends avoiding the blue shark for consumption.
