Informing area-based conservation for guitarfish species in India

Garima Bora

Other project team members: Imran Samad, Harshal Patil

The project will address the overlooked presence of widenose guitarfish (Glaucostegus obtusus) and sharpnose guitarfish (Glaucostegus granulatus) in the nearshore areas of the Malvan Marine Sanctuary, India. Both species are Critically Endangered and frequently caught as bycatch, which poses a major threat to their populations. Area-based management plans have largely neglected these species and the recent inclusion of the widenose guitarfish in India’s Wildlife Protection Act underscores the urgent need to study their spatial ecology.  We will employ fisheries-dependent and independent methods to identify areas where these species are present, incorporating local ecological knowledge (LEK) and using passive integrated transponder (PIT) tagging to confirm potential migrations. The local fishing community would be more engaged and eventually more aware of their conservation status when they are closely involved in the sample collection process. Through stakeholder interviews, we will gather evidence of the economic value of caught guitarfishes, which will guide mitigation measures such as providing financial compensation for the release of pups, juveniles, and gravid females.   Ultimately, outreach programs will highlight the importance of guitarfishes in nearshore ecosystems, providing baseline data on other threatened elasmobranch species.

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