Shark species found in Quebec waters now being considered for endangered status

Did you know there's medium-sized sharks swimming in Quebec's Gulf of St. Lawrence? They're relatively shy species and they generally move very quickly and I would say avoid humans. The porbeagle, found in the St. Lawrence and in Atlantic Canada, is a mid-sized shark that's often mistaken for a baby great white. And it could soon make it onto Canada's endangered species list after years of overfishing. through the 60s to the 90s overfishing, where they were targeted for their fins and their meat. Since like I think 2013, the fishery for them has closed, but they're still captured incidentally. It's not uncommon for porbeagle sharks to be caught in fishing nets. Since the species mature late and only have a few babies, their populations are easily vulnerable to overfishing. But they could get an extra layer of protection now that Fisheries and Ocean Canada is considering adding or reclassifying them among 15 other aquatic species under their Species at Risk Act, known as SARA. The government has to come up with a recovery strategy, a way to help the population rebuild. That would happen in a few steps, including gathering scientific information to identify dangerous habitats and come up with policies to eliminate the threats in those waters. Some experts say that if done right, the endangered classification could establish where porbeagles feed and reproduce, which would help revive the declining shark population.