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Las comunidades pesqueras en los litorales de Guatemala dependen directamente de la pesca artesanal de tiburones y rayas (elasmobranquios) como fuente de alimento y de empleo. Sin embargo, el planeta enfrenta una crisis pesquera donde los elasmobranquios son particularmente vulnerables a la sobrepesca debido a su reproducción tardía, sus largos periodos de gestación y un número reducido de embriones. Para alcanzar pesquerías productivas y sostenibles, debemos proteger las especies de tiburones y rayas tomando en cuenta su importancia como fuente de alimento e ingreso económico para las comunidades pesqueras. ¿Existe la posibilidad de proteger nuestros recursos pesqueros y promover al mismo tiempo una pesca artesanal sostenible y abundante?

Según un artículo publicado por Simpfendorfer & Dulvy en el 2016 “Con un manejo sólido basado en la ciencia, la mayoría de las especies de tiburones y rayas tienen el potencial de soportar la pesca sostenible”. Si bien los elasmobranquios pueden tolerar la presión pesquera, los organismos deben poder reproducirse al menos una vez antes de ser capturados. Para que esto se logre debemos tener planes de manejo basados en la ciencia, que nos indiquen las tallas de primera madurez sexual, las temporadas de reproducción de las especies y sus áreas de crianza. 

En el manejo pesquero el conocimiento es poder, mientras mejor conocemos el estado y las dinámicas de nuestras pesquerías, podemos proponer acciones para disminuir la carga y asegurar la pesca para las generaciones futuras. Aunque en Guatemala contamos con algunas medidas de manejo para la pesca de tiburones y rayas, la alarmante situación pesquera nos obliga a investigar más a fondo el estado de nuestros recursos y encontrar soluciones para su recuperación.

Desde hace siete años la Fundación Mundo Azul ha trabajado con las comunidades pesqueras de Guatemala, colectando datos sobre los organismos capturados en la pesca artesanal. Al día de hoy contamos con un grupo de pescadores que se preocupan por el futuro de su comunidad y de nuestro país. Estos pescadores colaboran con nosotros en la colecta de datos, han sido capacitados por profesionales y generan información valiosa para poder conservar nuestros recursos pesqueros.

Nuestros esfuerzos buscan integrar los intereses de las comunidades pesqueras y los tomadores de decisiones a nivel nacional para establecer medidas que beneficien los recursos marino costeros de Guatemala de una manera social, económica y ambiental. Conoce más de nuestras iniciativas en www.fundacionmundoazul.com y ayúdanos a trabajar por un mejor futuro para todos.

The environmental education project with emphasis on the reuse, recycling and reduction of the use of plastic began in its region of execution in Livingston, Izabal. The project aims to create awareness and educate middle-level youth about the problematic, progressive damage and impact of single-use plastic products for our planet.

The project was initiated where it aims to create a comprehensive mechanism of information on all aspects revolving around plastic, from its origin and manufacture, damages and benefits of plastic for humanity to practical ways to reuse , recycle and unused plastic for the protection of Livingston ecosystems.

This first workshop was executed during the last week of January, this workshop, in addition to serving as an introductory presentation also served to explain fundamental and basic aspects about plastics. Aspects such as: manufacture, provenance, oil refining process, plastics properties, plastic divisions and other related topics were treated.

The success of the first tour was confirmed with the interest shown by the students on how to approach the topic using specific points; fundamental points were addressed on generalities of the chemical properties of plastics, processes of creation of the most common polymers and division of plastics, also gave a historical review on the first synthetic plastic created in the world In addition to its creator and how this had a historical impact on the world.

The first workshop fulfilled its goal of educating and laying the foundations for further understanding of the latent and constant damage of polymers to humanity, ecosystems and the world in general. Although it is true that the activity was successfully developed, its development was not entirely normal due to the problem facing the community every time it rains in the sector; the electric power stops working when the rains are strong, and because of them the service was irregular during the development of the first workshop so that in none of the activities were used all the tools that were planned, were all workshops were modified in such a way that they could be understandable to young people using the dynamic activities and examples, comments and opinions from the same young people.

The presence of Blue World Foundation was positive and highly accepted by the educational establishments and their students showing their interest in the activities that are to come and that will be developed throughout the school year in the Augusta Blanco institutes Rubio and the national diversified education of Livingston.

We give a special thanks to Rufford Foundation for the support provided so that this project can be carried out.

A shark can survive for up to a year without feeding! As incredible as it may seem, (considering the large size of some shark species) sharks can survive for up to a year without feeding.

According to shark Pedia data, sharks can vary their eating habits depending on the regions where they live. These incredible aquatic animals have an easy adaptability to precarious situations in which they cannot obtain food during quite prolonged times, that is why some species of sharks eat just quantities of proportional food To your body and then not to eat again for weeks, months or even for a full year. The way they achieve this amazing feat is thanks to their liver. The Sharks-world site (Shark World in Spanish) states that like humans, sharks also have a liver, although the latter use it in a different way. Fish like sharks can store large amounts of oil during quite long times.

The efficient liver of sharks allows them to keep nutrients that facilitates survival in food shortages and is only when the oil in their liver decreases that they activate their instinct to feed; it is important to mention that like gasoline for a car, the liver of the Sharks should not run out of oil for the proper functioning of their organism.

The importance of the liver to the survival of sharks is not the only quality of this organ. Rob Harris indicates that biologically the liver of a surface shark has a total weight of 25 percent of its body weight while deep sharks may have only 5 percent.

Scientifically it has been proven that the more you need a shark to keep moving in order to get the oxygen from the water that passes through its gills, the more space can occupy the liver in the body of the Sharks. It has been confirmed that in many species of shark the liver can occupy about 90 percent of the body cavity of these fish.

The importance of the liver for the buoyancy of sharks is that the oil produced by this organ is lighter than water, allowing them to have a relatively lower weight than the pressure exerted by their body while swimming. This means that while the liver maintains a correct production of oil, the shark could not sink, besides that the difficulty and effort of its movement by swimming is reduced significantly and drastically.

It is amazing how complex and well-adapted shark organisms are to their own environments. If you meditate calmly, it can be concluded that for a shark gluttony is not an option. So when you no longer can and still try to give the last bite to your burger, remember that nature has lessons that are worthy of being emulated.

By Christian Zúñiga

References

Harris Rob Pets on Mom.me [online]. – 25 of 01 of 2018. –
Http://animals.mom.me/oily-liver-shark-work-7894.html.

Sharks-World [online]. – 2017. – 25 of 01 of 2018. –
Http://www.sharks-world.com/shark_anatomy/°.

Spector Dina BUSINESS Insider [online]. – 2014 of 05 of 2014. – 25 of 01 of 2018. – Http://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-days-can-you-survive-without-water-2014-5.

Tiburón Pedia [Online]. – 18 of 01 of 2018. –
http://www.tiburonpedia.com/que-comen-los-tiburones/.

Pilgrim Shark, the liver of this shark can store about 400 liters of oil. * * Image entitled to reuse. Author: PXHERE.COM * *

The goal of this shark fin identification Guide is to facilitate training for wildlife inspectors, government agents and fishing services personnel in visual identification of the dorsal fins and Pectoral fins in five shark species that have been included in appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This appendix includes species that are not necessarily endangered, but whose marketing must be controlled in order to avoid incompatible use with their survival. The species included in this guide include the silky Shark (Falciformisic Tiburon), two hammerhead sharks (common hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini and Giant Hammer, Sphyrna) and two species of foxes (thresher shark bigeye, Alopias Superciliosus and Pelagic fox, Alopias pelagicus), which are captured both on the Pacific coast and in the Caribbean of Guatemala.

https://fundacionmundoazul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guia-Final-Final.pdf