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One species stood out: the silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis), which has a wide distribution and ...
More is known to be landed on both Guatemalan coasts. By using “DNA zip coding,” scientists were able to determine the ocean basin origin of many of these samples. The country of Guatemala, bordered by both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, faces a unique challenge when it comes to monitoring and managing its shark and ray fisheries.
Known collectively as elasmobranchs, these animals are increasingly being caught not just for their fins, but a commodity that is growing in global importance: their meat. A Latin American country about the same size as the U.S.
state of Tennessee, it sees a rising demand for elasmobranch meat that peaks during the Roman Catholic Lenten season, when traditional meals often feature salted or fresh shark. This demand is met through a mix of domestic fisheries on both coasts and international imports, making the country’s elasmobranch trade both complex and hard to regulate. While global attention has long focused on the shark fin trade, recent studies suggest that the meat trade has quietly overtaken fins in both volume and value .
In Guatemala’s case, the trade is poorly monitored and under-regulated, with limited data on what species are being caught, where they come from or how much is being traded. This lack of transparency creates problems not only for conservation efforts but also for ensuring that the trade is legal and sustainable. Compounding the issue is that trade and catch data are often lumped into broad categories like “sharks nei” (which stands for “not elsewhere included”), making it hard to determine which species are actually being sold or exported.
To better understand the makeup of Guatemala’s shark meat trade, Dr. Devanshi Kasana of the Predator Ecology and Conservation Laboratory at Florida International University led a team of scientists in using genetic tools to test 370 meat samples collected from domestic markets in 2016, 2017 and 2022. The findings were recently published and the samples revealed 19 different species of sharks and rays, many of which are listed as threatened or are now protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (better known as CITES).
Perhaps more concerning, over 20% of the samples were mislabelled, often showing up as elasmobranchs when they were actually teleost (bony) fish, a completely different group of species. This mislabelling points to gaps in both supply chain transparency and consumer awareness. One species stood out: the silky shark ( Carcharhinus falciformis ), which has a wide distribution and is known to be landed on both Guatemalan coasts.
By using “DNA zip coding,” the researchers were able to determine the ocean basin origin of many of these samples. Markets on the Pacific coast and Guatemala City — the nation’s inland commercial hub — primarily sold Pacific-sourced meat, but samples from the Atlantic coast and some products in Guatemala City clearly originated from the Atlantic Ocean. These findings show how trade routes cross internal geographic boundaries and rely on a mix of regional sources, further complicating management.
For example, despite some CITES-reported imports of Pacific species, Guatemala’s Pacific shark fisheries remain largely unregulated. Given that Pacific populations are a major source of meat consumed domestically, the lack of oversight is a red flag for conservationists and fisheries managers alike. On the Atlantic side, the team points out, recent efforts to implement management strategies are a step in the right direction, but those efforts need to be continued and likely expanded if they’re to be effective.
While global attention has long focused on the shark fin trade, recent studies suggest that the meat ...
More trade has quietly overtaken fins in both volume and value. Accurate, species-specific trade and catch data are essential for creating strong management plans and enforcing conservation rules. This is especially important for countries like Guatemala, where two different ocean basins contribute to national supply chains.
Without knowing which populations are being exploited, and at what rate, it becomes nearly impossible to ensure sustainability or to comply with international agreements like CITES. That’s when genetic identification methods step in, providing a reliable way to gather this information, even when products are unrecognizable to the naked eye. The findings from this research go beyond Guatemala, the research team argues.
They highlight a broader issue affecting many coastal countries: the growing trade in elasmobranch meat is outpacing regulatory frameworks. As demand continues to grow, particularly in culturally and nutritionally significant markets, the need for clear, enforceable trade routes and transparent supply chains becomes more urgent. What’s happening in Guatemala is not an isolated case.
.. it’s a microcosm of a global pattern that, if left unchecked, could have serious consequences for marine biodiversity.
Understanding and regulating the trade in shark and ray meat is no longer optional but essential. Whether through better enforcement, more data collection, or the adoption of new tools like DNA testing, countries must act to ensure that these species can continue to play their roles in healthy ocean ecosystems. Guatemala’s case offers both a warning and a potential path forward.
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