Abstract

Coastal fisheries along Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) countries are generally overfished and under-managed. As coastal fish stocks decline, select fishers are expanding into deep sea-fisheries. The topography of the MAR enables deep-sea fishing (> 200 m) very close to shore, easily attainable in small vessels. Fishing effort in the deep-waters varies substantially among countries, with exploitation based on the use of both vertical and horizontal bottom-set longline gear. Captured species include gulper sharks (Centrophorus sp.), sixgills (Hexanchus griseus), smoothhounds (Mustelus sp.), and occasionally chimaeras. Although deep longline fishing targets sharks in Guatemala, most fishers in Belize target snappers, and deep-water sharks are landed infrequently. Fisheries-independent sampling in Belize and Honduras has been undertaken to develop species diversity and abundance trends for deep-water sharks and teleosts. Fisher surveys from Belize have also exposed a fishery on the brink of expansion. Results from fishery-independent monitoring, fishery-dependent landings data, and fisher questionnaire surveys will be presented.

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