Sharks, rays and chimaeras belong to the category of chondrichthyans, fish characterized by a skeleton of cartilage instead of bone. They are the most endangered group of marine vertebrates in the world due to excessive fishing pressure for their consumption as meat, fin soup, oil and other commercial uses. Because of their slow growth, late sexual reproduction and low fecundity, their populations are unable to recover in time to cope with such a high rate of exploitation.

About 50 species of chondrichthyans are subject to commercial and recreational fishing in Argentina. Alarmingly, 71% of these species are in some category of extinction risk due to small and large-scale overfishing, as assessed according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. These include globally distributed species such as the tope shark (Galeorhinus galeus) and the Sandtiger (Carcharias taurus) and, even more worryingly, 53% of the threatened species are endemic to this region, such as the Narrownose smoothhound (Mustelus schmitti), meaning that their extinction here would wipe them off the planet. 

Sharks, as top predators, have played a crucial role in the oceans for  hundreds of millions of years, maintaining balance in the food chain and regulating  other marine populations.

Challenges
The main threat to these species is overharvesting by fishing nets. Argentina stands out for having one of the highest catch and landing rates of chondrichthyans, ranking sixth worldwide during the period 2007-2017 and first in rays at present. Chondrichthyans are an important component of Argentine commercial fisheries, with rays having the highest volumes in landings. At the same time, recreational fishing is a source of mortality for coastal sharks with illegal capture and retention practices, even in some marine protected areas.

Other challenges for their conservation are marine pollution, habitat destruction and climate change. Finally, another worrying fact is the lack of information to determine the conservation status of 1 in 5 species in the Patagonian Sea.

Our work
Since 2021, WCS has been carrying out a 10-year global strategy to save sharks and rays focused on 10 conservation hotspots around the world, where the Southwest Atlantic Ocean is one of the areas of special concern.

At the national level, we lead the citizen science program “Conservar Tiburones en Argentina” together with the Museo de Ciencias Naturales of the Universidad de la Plata and the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia, which seeks to encourage sport fishermen to place a tag on the sharks they catch in order to identify and return them to the sea and thus be able to track their migratory behavior, among other aspects. In addition, we promote laws and public policies that contribute to the conservation of the most vulnerable species; we work together with small-scale shark fishermen to promote sustainable fishing practices; and we promote awareness campaigns to discourage the consumption of critically endangered species, such as the endemic Narrownose smoothhound. 

At the regional level, we developed reports on the current status of sharks and rays in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean (SWA); conducted scientific research on priority species; and collaborated in updating the IUCN Atlas of Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRA) for the SWA region. 

At the international level, we promote the incorporation of shark and ray species threatened with extinction into international treaties, such as CMS (Convention on Migratory Species) and CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), to regulate their trade and promote their conservation; and we contribute to research on the traceability of these species and their products in global trade.