What does Open Data tell us about the shark fishery in Mexico?

The temperate waters of the Mexican seas have been the temporary refuge or permanent home of different species that constitute the complex marine ecosystem framework. ^{Sharks or sharks 1 are part of this megadiverse range of living beings, and although 111 species of sharks live in Mexico 2, the Official Mexican Standard NOM-029-PESC-2006 on responsible fishing for sharks and rays specifies that 35% (39 species) 3 have commercial value because they are a rich source of protein (mainly meat, fins, teeth and liver) and input for the production of cosmetics and medicines 4. Also, on the Pacific coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, it is estimated that 85 species of manta rays live, of which 37 are of commercial relevance 5.}

The most recent evaluations that update the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conclude that, in the case of sharks, rays and chimeras, 151 species out of 422 evaluated ⁶, and of 500 known ⁷, are under some level of risk of extinction. <sup>Additionally, researchers from different universities published a scientific article in Nature that points out that global shark populations have decreased 70% since the 1970s, mainly due to overfishing 8.

In 2019, the federal government published the Program of Action for the Conservation of Species (PACE): Sharks and Rays, which presents axes, objectives and lines of action for the conservation of these species in Protected Natural Areas (ANP) 9.</sup> In addition, within the framework of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC), it undertook to implement effective conservation and management measures related to the generation of information and knowledge to evaluate the impact of fishing effort on shark species and other marine species ¹⁰; despite the existence of these documents, there is still no information on human resources and the budget that the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Conapesca) will allocate to comply with these commitments.

The shark fishery represents an important source of income for many anglers and their families. Currently, there are 523 permits for shark and rays for coastal fishing and 186 permits for deep-sea fishing. <sup>In total, these cover more than 995 boats and 578 economic units 11.

In 2019, total shark and ray fish production was worth $1,089 million pesos, according to the production bases of Conapesca 12. However, in the arrival notice records for larger and smaller vessels, only $112 million in pesos were reported, equivalent to 10.2% of the total production for these species in 2019 13.</sup>

Regarding the production reported in the arrival notices, it should be noted that from 2016 to 2020, 52% (284 million pesos) of shark production was reported by 83.4% of fishing economic units that do not have current permits (of this percentage, 88% corresponds to coastal fishing and 12% to deep-sea fishing). The 1,223 coastal economic units without a current permit have reported an average production value of $50 million pesos in the study period (2016-2020), which shows the importance of the activity for many small producers who may be operating irregularly.

On the other hand, the remaining 16.6% (encompassing 274 fishing units) have current permits and produced almost half (48%) of the value of the production, that is, 261.5 million pesos during the study period. Of this group of producers that have a catch permit, 175 coastal economic units have increased the value of their production significantly from $10.5 to $33.5 million pesos, from 2016 to 2020. In contrast, the 99 economic tall units that have a catch permit have reduced their production 38% over the same period.

Although in our country there is a regulatory framework that seeks to regulate shark fishing and exploitation, in addition to the commitments made at the international level to achieve its conservation, the reality is that not enough and up-to-date information is generated to know the state of the species being caught. The NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, on the protection of native species, categories and list of endangered species, classifies white sharks, whale sharks and basking sharks as ¹⁴ threatened species; that is, of the total number of shark species in our country, only three are protected. In addition, Causa Natura was able to verify, through requests for public information, that in recent years Semarnat has not granted authorizations for the use of other species of sharks and rays in Wildlife Conservation Management Units (UMAS). Therefore, the entity responsible for managing exploitation permits is Sader, through Conapesca.

^{To date, there is no Fisheries Management Plan for the development of shark and ray fisheries (there are currently 21 Fisheries Management Plans in accordance with Inapesca 15), and the last update of the shark sheets in the National Fisheries Charter was in 2018 for the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, and 2010 for the Pacific and the Gulf of California 16.}

Final comments In

order to improve shark fisheries management and to meet the above-mentioned commitments, it is urgent to generate more timely information on the state of the fishery to identify species that are approaching sustainable catch limits. Likewise, regulatory efforts must be redoubled to regulate unregulated fishing and combat illegal fishing affecting sharks.

A first step in improving information is to close the gap between the production reported in the arrival notices and the annual production data provided by Conapesca. In fact, this differential may be an indicator of the catch coming from irregular fishing; hence the importance of strengthening verification at landing points.

On the other hand, detailed identification of the species of elasmobranchs that are caught is not being carried out; many arrival warning reports mark “shark” as a generic term, making it difficult to track the volumes captured by species. It is urgent to strengthen the validation of reports to verify if the catch corresponds to the species (s) established by the fishing permit.

Finally, the improvement of the information in the arrival notices will allow estimates of the catch ratio/fishing limits to assess the recovery of different shark populations.