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Why do white shark populations take a long time to recover after being depleted?
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white shark
White shark (Carcharodon carcharias) populations are frequently centred in highly productive temperate coastal waters (that is, waters characterized by an abundance of fishes and marine mammals).
White shark populations are slow to recover from depletion primarily because of their biological characteristics and their position as top predators in the food chain. Because they occupy this apex niche, they are never naturally abundant, meaning the removal of even a few individuals can have a profound impact on the population.1
Several specific factors contribute to this slow recovery:
- Slow Growth and Late Maturity: White sharks grow slowly. Males do not reach sexual maturity until they are approximately 10 years old, while females take between 12 and 18 years to mature.2
- Low Reproductive Rate: They produce very few young, with litters typically consisting of only 2 to 10 pups. This low fecundity prevents them from quickly reconstituting their numbers following sudden population declines.23
- Long Gestation: The gestation period for white sharks is estimated to be about 12 months.2
Because of these life-history traits, combined with ongoing pressures from commercial fishing and accidental bycatch, white shark populations struggle to rebound once they have been depleted.14