Introduction
Elasmobranchs show cer-tain ‘slow’ life history traits which coupled with their high monetary value, has con-tributed to the ‘threatened’ status of many species. In particular, they rely upon shallow coastal waters aspre and post-natal nursery areas, where fishing also proliferates. In this work, elasmo-branch capture in West African small-scale commercial fishing gearis evaluated. This can occur through either targeted or incidentalpractices, but is commonly rewarded by financial incentives to sup-ply a Far-Eastern market no longer able to support Asian demand. With West African SSF landings at theirlowest in twenty years this investigationaims to supplement existing longer-term data in a region whereboth fisher-migrations and elasmobranch capture are synonymouswith financial gain .