More than 70% of sharks in Argentina are at risk of extinction: how to reverse this shocking crisis

More than 71% of shark species inhabiting the Argentine Sea face an extremely high risk of extinction, according to data from WCS Argentina. The pressure from commercial and sport fishing has pushed numerous species to the brink of disappearance, affecting the balance of marine ecosystems.

The Argentine Sea is home to 55 species of sharks, many of them endemic. Their disappearance in the region would mean global extinction.

Iconic Cases

• Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus): a coastal shark considered Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Its population has decreased by 90% in the last 40 years.
• Gummy Shark (Mustelus schmitti): endemic to the Southwestern Atlantic, it has suffered a population decline of over 90% in four decades.

The causes of the decline are biological: slow growth, low fecundity, and late reproduction. For example, female gummy sharks only give birth at 8 years old, with litters of 1 to 10 pups annually, which prevents recovery in the face of fishing exploitation.

Conservation Initiatives

Since 2013, WCS has been promoting the program Conserving Sharks in Argentina together with the La Plata Museum of Natural Sciences and the Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum.

• It promotes fishing with tagging and release back into the sea instead of killing.
• More than 240 sport fishermen and guides from Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Chubut, and Santa Cruz have joined.
• 20,000 releases have been achieved, of which 4,000 specimens were tagged for monitoring and 55 recaptures were recorded.

The Role of Fishermen

The participation of fishermen and guides is essential. Juan Dibbern, a guide from Claromecó, highlighted: “Today there is much more information and people are more aware of how important sharks are, thanks to the work of specialists and organizations”.

The program offers training, tags, and circular hooks to promote live release. The data collected (species, sex, size, location) allows for monitoring movements and designing conservation strategies.

Education and Citizen Science

WCS distributed information sheets on five key species:

• Gummy Shark
• Broadnose Sevengill Shark (Notorynchus cepedianus)
• School Shark (Galeorhinus galeus)
• Copper Shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus)
• Sand Tiger Shark

The sheets include identification, distribution, and threat level, and aim to promote the live release of captured specimens.

Broader Strategies

In addition to sport fishing, WCS coordinates efforts with small-scale commercial fishing and promotes national and international regulations to protect these species throughout their range. Citizen science becomes a bridge between coastal communities and scientific conservation.

The future of sharks in the Argentine Sea depends on collaboration between scientific institutions, fishermen, and environmental organizations.

The combination of monitoring, education, and citizen participation is consolidated as a key tool to prevent these species from disappearing from the waters of the region and the planet.