Yin Cheong Aden Ip
ABSTRACT The Maldives reopened a collapsed gulper shark fishery in November 2025 without stock assessment or recovery evidence. Applying the precautionary approach requires three minimum standards for managing reopened or proposed fisheries: transparent recovery assessment, independent population monitoring and funded operational plans with decision rules. I propose that environmental DNA (eDNA) offers a non‐lethal, scalable monitoring tool to support evidence‐based fishery decisions for threatened deep‐sea sharks.