Fishery Bulletin 119(1) 
Table 1 
Statistics for elasmobranch species landed from May 2017 through March 2020 in artisanal fisheries that operate from 
3 communities off the Pacific coast of Guatemala: Las Lisas, Sipacate, and Buena Vista. The number of documented individuals 
(n), percentage of the landing records, landings per unit of effort (LPUE) with fishing nights used as unit of effort, and fishing 
gear used to capture individuals are provided for each species by community. The LPUE is not presented for vermiculate 
electric rays (Narcine vermiculata) landed in Las Lisas because they were captured by shrimp trawl! boats. 
Las Lisas 
Species 
Hypanus longus 
Sphyrna lewini 
Rhizoprionodon longurio 
Mustelus lunulatus 
Carcharhinus limbatus 
Narcine vermiculata 
Aetobatus laticeps 
Pseudobatos leucorhynchus 
Galeocerdo cuvier 
Narcine entemedor 
Styracura pacifica 
Nasolamia velox 
Carcharhinus falciformis 
Rhinoptera steindachneri 
Carcharhinus leucas 
Sphyrna mokarran 
Mobula thurstoni 
Mobula munkiana 
Urotrygon aspidura 
Urotrygon chilensis 
Alopias pelagicus 
Total 
that were established by Heupel et al. (2007) for the defi- 
nition of a shark nursery area, it is highly probable that 
these sites are important nursery areas for the scalloped 
hammerhead in the eastern central Pacific Ocean. 
The 3 criteria of Heupel et al. (2007) used to define a 
nursery area for shark species are as follows: 1) sharks of 
a species are most commonly found in a particular area 
instead of in other areas (for example, the density in some 
areas is higher than in other areas), 2) neonate and young- 
of-the-year sharks tend to remain or return for extended 
periods of time (weeks or months) in an area, and 3) an 
area or habitat is used repeatedly over the years while 
other sites are not. 
Other shark species also had high incidences of capture 
during specific times of the year. For example, 75% of the 
landings of the Pacific sharpnose shark (Rhizoprionodon 
longurio) occurred during November 2018, and blacktip 
sharks (C. limbatus) were caught only from February 
through May in 2018 and 2019. Seasonality has also been 
observed for landings of the Pacific sharpnose shark off the 
Pacific coast of Mexico, with a high proportion of the total 
catch occurring from November through April (Marquez- 
Farias, 2005). Interestingly, the Pacific sharpnose shark 
has not been reported in previous studies of fisheries in 
FNNNNwWHN AN 
Sipacate 
Buena Vista 
%  LPUE % LPUE Fishing gear 
1.60 
0.86 
0.35 
1.39 
1.18 
0.08 
Bottom longline 
Gill net 
Gill net 
Bottom longline 
Gill net 
Gill net 
Bottom longline 
Gill net 
Gill net 
Bottom longline 
Bottom longline 
Gill net 
Gill net 
Bottom longline 
Bottom longline 
Bottom longline 
Gill net 
Gill net 
Gill net 
Gill net 
Bottom longline 
Guatemala despite being a common species in the eastern 
central Pacific Ocean (Marquez-Farias, 2005). Although 
Ixquiac Cabrera et al.’ reported that the silky shark was 
the most abundant shark species in landings recorded in 
Guatemala during 2006—2007, only a few individuals were 
observed in our study. The difference in abundance for this 
species may be a result of the inclusion of offshore longline 
fisheries in previous studies and the focus of our study on 
only coastal fisheries. 
The results of our study provide the first characterization 
of ray exploitation in the artisanal fisheries of Guatemala. 
In total, 11 ray species were identified, with the longtail 
stingray having the most records (n=1825). It is important 
to mention that not all ray species are locally exploited, as 
is the longtail stingray, given that some do not reach large 
sizes. According to the information obtained in this study, 
the meat of longtail stingrays was mainly used locally in 
fillet form. As such, it has become a target species for the 
multispecies bottom longline fishery in Sipacate and to 
lesser extents for the fisheries in Las Lisas and Buena 
Vista. The remaining ray species that reached large sizes 
and that were occasionally reported were the Pacific eagle 
ray (Aetobatus laticeps), Pacific chupare (Styracura paci- 
fica), and golden cownose ray, all of which are consumed 
