Fishery Bulletin 119(1) 
March 2020 and ultimately to provide the first characteri- 
zation of the ray species captured by the artisanal fleet 
and the shark species present in landings. The informa- 
tion from this study will contribute to the identification of 
elasmobranch nursery areas in Guatemala and facilitate 
the design of conservation strategies. Our results high- 
light the need to establish rays as important fishery spe- 
cies in this region. 
Materials and methods 
Study area 
Approximately 1.8 million people live in the communities 
along the Pacific coast of Guatemala (14% of the national 
population), and the main sources of income for these peo- 
ple are related to fishing activities (SEGEPLAN and DOT”). 
The continental platform of Guatemala (14,009 km”) is nar- 
row, extends ~50 km offshore, and contains the economic 
exclusive zone of the country. Along the 250-km coastline 
where Guatemala meets the Pacific Ocean, about 45 com- 
munities have artisanal fisheries, in which elasmobranch 
species are incidentally captured and landed. Three of the 
largest fishing communities were selected for this study: 
Las Lisas, Buena Vista, and Sipacate (Fig. 1). These com- 
munities were selected for their importance and because 
their fishing efforts were greater than those of the other 
communities in the region. The commu- 
nity of Buena Vista was not monitored in 
the study until January 2019. 
Landings 
Biological and morphometric data were 
collected from elasmobranchs sampled 
from landings between May 2017 and 
March 2020, in addition to informa- 
tion on fishing effort and gear. Over the 
study period, sampling was undertaken 
during 83 visits to the 3 fishing commu- 
nities: 34 visits in Las Lisas, 35 visits in 
Sipacate, and 14 visits in Buena Vista. 
Most individuals were landed whole and 
were identified to the species level by 
using identification guides and special- 
ized books (Mejia-Falla et al., 2011; Ebert 
et al., 2013; Last et al., 2016). The sources 
for the nomenclature of ray, shark, and 
shrimp species were Last et al. (2016), 
Ebert et al. (2013), and Holthuis (1980), 
respectively. The presence or absence of 
3 SEGEPLAN (Secretaria de Planificacién y 
Programacion de la Presidencia) and DOT 
(Direccién de Ordenamiento Territorial). 
2011. Plan de desarrollo integral del litoral 
del Pacifico, 190 p. SEGEPLAN and DOT, 
Guatemala City, Guatemala. [In Spanish.] 
[Available from website.] 
male claspers was used to determine the sex of each spec- 
imen. Maturity was determined by the degree of clasper 
calcification (males) and the presence of reproductive scars 
or embryos (females). Size at first maturity was obtained 
from the literature (Mejia-Salazar, 2007; Navia et al., 
2009; Zanella et al., 2009; Lopez-Garro and Zanella, 2015; 
Pollom et al., 2020). Measurements to the nearest 0.5 cm 
were recorded for landed individuals in a natural position. 
For sharks, total length was measured by using the natu- 
ral extension of the caudal fin (Compagno, 2001), and fork 
length was recorded. For rays, disc width and disc length 
were recorded. Total length was also recorded for small rays. 
Given that the vessels in the artisanal fisheries used a 
variable and unquantifiable quantity of fishhooks or nets, 
the landings per unit of effort (LPUE) was calculated for 
each species by using fishing nights as the unit of effort. 
To ensure that calculations were as accurate as possible, 
an attempt was made to count the total number of elasmo- 
branchs per fishing trip (every shark and ray landed by 
every boat that arrived at the dock on monitoring days), 
even if it was not possible to measure all individuals. For 
species in which the number of sampled individuals (7) 
was greater than 15, size histograms were generated and 
compared with information on sexual maturity from the 
literature. 
In Las Lisas, a trawl fishery directed at the whiteleg 
shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and seabob (Xiphope- 
naeus kroyert) is also present. Data on incidentally caught 
4 Caribbean 
a Sea 
saved 
; 
Guatemala 
Figure 1 
A map of the locations of the 3 communities where landings of ray and shark 
species in artisanal fisheries were monitored between May 2017 and March 
2020. These communities along the Pacific coast of Guatemala are Las Lisas 
(LIS) in the Santa Rosa Department and Buena Vista (BVI) and Sipacate (SIP) 
in the Escuintla Department. Landings at Buena Vista were not monitored 
until January 2019. 
