Shortfalls in the protection of Important Shark and Ray Areas undermine shark conservation efforts in the Central and South American Pacific

Global biodiversity targets require nations to designate 30 % of their marine waters as protected areas by 2030. Sharks, rays, and chimaeras (hereafter ‘sharks’) are key components of aquatic ecosystems; however, over a third are globally threatened with extinction. Across the Central and South American Pacific Ocean region, we (i) assessed trends in Marine Protected Area (MPA) expansion and extent across the 12 nations of the region; (ii) quantified the spatial overlap between MPAs and Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs); and (iii) evaluated the effectiveness of the current MPA governance structure at protecting sharks and their critical habitat. There has been a recent rapid increase in the establishment of MPAs with 90 % of current MPAs designated since 2010. Yet, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, and Honduras still protect less than 10 % of their waters. We find that ISRAs overlap with all MPAs by only 15.6 % and with no-take MPAs by 7.3 %. This raises concerns about the low level of protection afforded to critical shark habitats in the region. Of 182 MPAs identified, 41.8 % do not have a management plan, comprising 39.8 % of the total MPA surface area. Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia have relatively strong governance frameworks in place and, along with Panama, Honduras, and Ecuador, represent the highest overlap between MPAs and ISRAs. However, the contribution of the remaining six countries to shark protection via MPAs is low based on limited spatial overlap with ISRAs (<2 %). As countries mobilise to meet the 30×30 target, we propose considering ISRAs as a key component of spatial planning when designing new MPAs, designating existing partially protected areas as no-take zones, or reshaping the boundaries of existing MPAs.