As of November 2026, the IUCN Red List lists the shortfin mako as Endangered; the IUCN estimated that the global shortfin mako population fell by 46.6 percent, weighted by region, over three generations of 72 to 75 years. Makos are caught around the world, on purpose and by accident in fishing gear meant for other fish, and this overfishing has hurt their numbers; in 2017 the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas confirmed that the North Atlantic mako stock was overfished and undergoing overfishing.
Rules have followed, though they differ from place to place; Canada banned keeping shortfin makos caught in Atlantic fisheries in 2020, and Spain and Portugal announced similar bans in 2021. In the US Atlantic, a retention ban means no shortfin mako may be landed or kept, as of July 2022; yet as of November 2022, NOAA Fisheries decided the shortfin mako does not warrant listing under the US Endangered Species Act, and shortfin makos are listed in CITES Appendix II, which monitors international trade.
The reason numbers fall so easily lies in how makos live; makos are slow to mature and have young only every three years, which makes them vulnerable to overfishing. Female makos are not adults until about 18 years old, although males mature younger, at around 7 to 9 years; the wider picture is the same. In a 2021 review of sharks, rays and chimeras, 391 of 1,199 species (32.6 percent) were found to be threatened with extinction, and overfishing was the one threat that affected all 391 threatened species.
Size records need care; a big shortfin mako can grow to about 4 metres (13 feet) long and weigh about 150 kilograms (330 pounds). Adult shortfin makos usually weigh 60 to 135 kilograms, and females may reach 150 kilograms; a mako caught off Nova Scotia in 2004 weighed 1,035 pounds (470 kilograms). FishBase records the maximum published weight for a mako as 505.8 kilograms and a maximum length of 445 centimetres, and it reports a larger historical specimen of about 585 centimetres estimated from photographs.
Even speed is an open question; the 2023 study notes that few direct speed measurements had been reported for the mako, which is why it used loggers on two sharks to measure speed in the sea, and scientists think the shortfin mako can swim faster than any other shark or ray. Mako sharks are non-territorial, and little is known about the size of their home ranges; behind all the numbers stands an animal with a place in the sea. Isotope analysis has shown that the shortfin mako is the highest-level fish predator in oceanic waters off eastern Australia, and makos are a vital part of ocean life because they are top predators.
Words to know
- overfishing: catching too many
- endangered: at risk
- isotope: element form
- predator: animal hunter
