The IUCN/ SSC Shark Specialist Group (SSG) recently formed this regional group for South America comprising countries previously incorporated within the Southwest Atlantic and Southeast Pacific regions. The following summary is therefore extracted from both the Southwest Atlantic and Southeast Pacific regional sections of the Global Status report: click on the image below to download a pdf.

Note:

Ramón Bonfil, Alberto Amorim and Colin A. Simpfendorfer (Southwest Atlantic)
Ramón Bonfil, Colin A. Simpfendorfer and Enzo Acuña (Southeast Pacific)

Introduction
The Southwest Atlantic region extends from the northern border of Brazil south to the Antarctic (Figure 7.13). It encompasses the waters off Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, a section of the coast of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The region includes all of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Major Fishing Area 41 and overlaps with parts of Areas 48 and a small section of Area 34. The river systems in this region (including the Amazon) harbour a number of endemic freshwater elasmobranchs. Limited data are available on the elasmobranchs in this region. The main source of information, particularly on commercial fisheries, is Bonfil (1994) and the landing statistics presented in this chapter are from FAO (2002).

The Southeast Pacific region (SEPR) extends from the Isthmus of Panama down the west coast of South America to Antarctica and out to 120°W, thus covering Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, plus a section of the coastline of Antarctica (see Figure 7.28). It includes all of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Major Fishing Area 87 and overlaps partially with Areas 77, 81 and 88. The region includes tropical waters, warm and cold temperate waters and polar marine environments. In general, the continental shelf is narrow along most of the western margin of South America, thus the most important fisheries tend to be pelagic. The area off the Peruvian coast is one of the most productive upwelling ecosystems in the world.

Of the IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group (SSG) regions discussed in this volume, the SEPR has the least amount of information available regarding its chondrichthyan populations. The SSG does not yet have an established regional group for the SEPR, although this is planned for the near future. For this chapter, the works of Bonfil (1994) and Oliver (1997) were heavily relied upon. In addition, a literature review and personal communications with researchers in the region provided other information. Fishery statistics were obtained from FAO (2002). 

Management and conservation
Southwest Atlantic: With the exception of the Falkland Islands skate and ray fishery, there are no management plans in place for elasmobranchs in the Southwest Atlantic region, although Brazil now has a plan, ‘Plano de Manejo’, drafted by members of the Sociedade Brasileira para o Estudo de Elasmobranquios (SBEEL), currently in an early development stage (see below under ‘Research’). Several species, such as G. galeus, Mustelus spp., Squatina spp., P. glauca, L. nasus, I. oxyrinchus and the carcharhinids, are transboundary species that should be managed in a coordinated way among countries.

Given the lack of assessment and management programmes in most of the countries of the region, and the concurrent pattern of declining catches for some elasmobranch species and rising catches for others, it is possible that stocks of elasmobranchs might be experiencing sequential localised depletion as fishing effort shifts from species to species in this region. There is an urgent need, as with other regions, to implement the FAO International Plan of Action for Sharks (IPOA-Sharks) (Fowler and Cavanagh this volume). The Brazilian Environmental and Natural Resources Institute-IBAMA, has prohibited (Portaria do IBAMA No. 121, 24 August 1998): (i) the transportation and use of gillnets longer than 2.5km; (ii) the discarding of shark carcasses with fins removed; and (iii) the transportation and/or landing of shark fins without the proportional weight of carcasses (fresh fins are considered to be 5% of the weight of carcass).

Human impact from fishing and habitat degradation is threatening some species that are more susceptible to extinction because of their limited ranges. For example, (1) the endemic freshwater stingrays (as mentioned above), (2) nursery areas for many species are under pressure fromindustrial coastal development in Argentina and elsewhere and (3) large numbers of gravid Squatina spp. are being caught in some parts of the country. The decreasing catches of ‘sharks and rays’ and guitarfishes in Brazil and the sharp decline in landings of R. horkellirajid mentioned earlier, are causes of concern for the conservation of these species. Furthermore, even though skates are presently under management in the Falkland Islands, some species are feeling the impact of unselective trawl fishing, in part because the assessment and management plan does not consider individual species but instead lumps them into a ‘rajid species complex’. More research is needed to determine the extent of the various threats to elasmobranch populations throughout this region. In any case, it is clear that continued uncontrolled fishing is likely to lead to further decreases in the abundance of some species.

Southeast Pacific: The only management for chondrichthyans in any of the countries within the SEPR, is in Chile for shortfin mako sharks Isurus oxyrinchus and blue sharks Prionace glauca. In 1994 longline gear restrictions were introduced for the artisanal fishery in the northernmost regions. In addition, the entry to the fisheries for these two shark species is currently closed, thus limiting access for capture of these species because only those artisanal fishermen already registered may participate in the fishery. The yellownose skate Dipturus chilensis is subject to an annual global quota off southern Chile, with part of this quota reserved for research purposes and as bycatch from fisheries for other demersal species such as hake Merluccius gayi (E. Acuña pers. comm.).

There are reports of an illegal fishery for sharks within the Galápagos Marine Resources Reserve (GMRR) (WildAid 2001). This occurs despite regulations and increased enforcement is needed in order to improve compliance. It is clear that there is a need for considerable improvement in the collection and dissemination of information regarding chondrichthyan populations and fisheries in this region.

As with all other regions, there is an urgency for steps to be taken to implement the FAO International Plan of Acrion for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (IPOA-Sharks) (see Fowler and Cavanagh this volume). Refer to Simpfendorfer et al. (this volume) for details on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) which aims to help facilitate the implementation of the FAO IPOA-Sharks in the this region.