Innovative Conservation Strategies for Elasmobranchs in Data-Poor Regions

Over a third of chondrichthyan species are threatened with extinction across the globe. This threat is concentrated in tropical, developing nations and Small Island Developing States, where fisheries monitoring, stock assessments, and enforcement capacity are weakest. In such data‑poor regions, conventional conservation tools that rely on long‑term, fishery‑dependent datasets or intensive scientific surveys are often infeasible. The result is a persistent data‑rich bias in global elasmobranch science, leaving the most vulnerable species and the communities that depend on them underrepresented in both research and management.

This Research Topic addresses that gap by showcasing adaptive, cross‑disciplinary, and community‑driven solutions that function despite limited data. The aim is to document what works: low‑cost monitoring, participatory governance, local ecological knowledge, and policy innovations with measurable conservation impact for sharks, rays, skates, and chimaeras in resource‑limited contexts. We welcome original research, methods, reviews, policy briefs, and brief reports spanning interconnected themes that reflect the realities of conservation practice on the ground. Details of the five thematic areas are outlined in the Scope section below.

All elasmobranchs are included, with emphasis on threatened and data‑deficient species that are economically or culturally important to tourism and small‑scale fisheries. By consolidating case studies that bridge ecology, social science, and policy, this Research Topic will provide an evidence base for managers and practitioners working under real‑world constraints. It also advances UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) by linking marine biodiversity conservation with sustainable livelihoods. This approach reframes data deficiency as an opportunity for active local stewardship, enabling practical conservation outcomes before further declines occur.

Elasmobranch conservation in data‑limited regions continues to demand innovative, community‑driven solutions. This Research Topic highlights adaptive and cross‑disciplinary research spanning socio‑ecological studies, sustainable fishing practices, innovative monitoring tools, participatory governance, and historically informed perspectives on trade and conservation. We seek contributions that address how to design, implement, and scale conservation strategies where baseline biological, ecological, or fisheries data are scarce, unreliable, or absent. Submissions should focus on sharks, rays, skates, and chimaeras across coastal, artisanal, and other small‑scale fisheries systems, and should demonstrate how local knowledge, low‑cost technologies, and inclusive governance models can overcome data barriers to improve outcomes for both elasmobranchs and dependent communities.

We welcome original research, methods, reviews, policy briefs, and brief reports spanning five interconnected themes:

- Socio‑ecological Systems & Local Knowledge: Studies that integrate fisher knowledge to construct trends, delineate critical habitats, or co‑design management. Includes human-elasmobranch conflict mitigation, perceptions of shark tourism, and the role of traditional tenure in protecting nursery grounds.

- Sustainable Small‑Scale Fisheries: Gear modifications, bycatch mitigation, and spatial measures tailored to artisanal fleets. We encourage work quantifying overlap between fishing effort and threatened species, post‑release mortality, and incentives for live release in data‑poor fisheries.

- Novel & Scalable Monitoring Tools: Applications of eDNA, baited remote underwater video, drone surveys, citizen science, and non‑invasive photo‑identification that can be sustained by local NGOs and community‑led groups. First assessments of life history, movement, or trophic ecology for data‑deficient or endemic species are especially relevant.

- Participatory & Adaptive Governance: Case studies of community‑based MPAs, co‑management working groups, and municipal ordinances protecting elasmobranchs, including design, compliance, and equity outcomes. Also relevant are local implementations of ISRAs or CITES listings.

- Trade, Markets & Historical Ecology: Research on traceability in informal supply chains, economic valuations of live versus landed elasmobranchs, and lessons from historical fisheries to inform present‑day recovery. Policy analyses of National Plans of Action (NPOAs), sanctuary declarations, and trans‑jurisdictional governance challenges for mobile species are within scope.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Elasmobranch conservation, community-based conservation, participatory governance, adaptive monitoring, data-poor region, sustainable livelihoods

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.