true

ISRA FACTSHEETS

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAN PACIFIC REGION

ISRA FACTSHEETS

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAN PACIFIC REGION

Coyote-Bongo ISRA

19/65

Coyote-Bongo ISRA

Coyote-Bongo

Summary

Coyote-Bongo is located in the southern Nicoya Peninsula on the north Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It includes the coastal waters of the Caletas-Ario Marine Protected Area (MPA) and those between the Caletas-Ario and Camaronal MPAs. The area encompasses a diversity of habitats including sandy beaches, rocky reefs, tidepools, and highly dynamic estuarine systems surrounded by mangrove forests. The climate across this area is influenced by dry (December to April) and rainy (May to November) seasons. Within this area there are: threatened species (e.g., Blacktip Shark Carcharhinus limbatus); range-restricted species (Pacific Chupare Styracura pacifica); reproductive areas (e.g., Scalloped Hammerhead Sphyrna lewini); and areas important for movement (Bull Shark Carcharhinus leucas).

Coyote-Bongo

Coyote-Bongo

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

Coyote-Bongo is located in the southern Nicoya Peninsula along the coast of the Puntarenas and Guanacaste provinces on the north Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Situated within the Pacific Central-American Coastal Large Marine Ecosystem (LME), this area includes sandy beaches, rocky reefs, tidepools, and highly dynamic estuarine systems surrounded by mangrove forests. The climate is heavily influenced by dry and rainy seasons. The dry season runs from December to April, while the rainy season occurs from May to November, with the heaviest precipitation occurring in September and October (Carrion et al. 2013; Sáenz-Soto 2014).

This Important Shark and Ray Area is delineated from surface waters (0 m) to 30 m based on the maximum depth range of the habitat used by the Qualifying Species.

CRITERION A

VULNERABILITY

Four Qualifying Species considered threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM regularly occur in this area. These are the Critically Endangered Scalloped Hammerhead (Rigby et al. 2019), the Vulnerable Bull Shark (Rigby et al. 2021b), the Vulnerable Blacktip Shark (Rigby et al. 2021a), and the Vulnerable Pacific Chupare (Kyne et al. 2002).

CRITERION B

RANGE RESTRICTED

Coyote-Bongo holds the regular presence of the Pacific Chupare as a resident range-restricted species. This species is encountered in local fisheries in the Coyote and Bongo estuaries where it utilises mangrove habitats (De la Llata Quiroga 2021; A. Quiroz pers. comm. 2022; E. Chávez et al. unpubl. data. 2022). It is observed all year long in the Coyote estuary and was the only species of ray observed in both estuaries during a research project conducted in 2019 during the rainy season (June-November) (De la Llata Quiroga 2021). The Pacific Chupare occurs only in the Pacific Central-American Coastal LME.

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C1 – REPRODUCTIVE AREAS

Coyote-Bongo is an important reproductive area for three shark species.

Juvenile and neonate Scalloped Hammerheads and Blacktip Sharks are regularly caught and landed by artisanal fisheries within Coyote-Bongo (often near the mouth of the Bongo estuary), based on fishery-dependent data (2007–2019) and fishery-independent surveys (October 2021–September 2022) (Arauz et al. 2008; Mongeon et al. 2013; J. Madrigal-Mesén unpubl. data 2022; R. Arauz et al. unpubl. data 2022). Both species measured between 52–70 cm total length (TL) and were considered neonates (J. Madrigal-Mesén et al. unpubl. data 2022). Neonate and juvenile Scalloped Hammerheads have been recorded measuring between 45–160 cm TL (Bejarno Álvarez 2007). Neonate Blacktip Sharks with visible umbilical scars have a mean size of 72.9 cm ± 29.4 TL (Harry et al. 2012). Neonates have also been recorded at lengths between 53–69 cm TL (Resitad et al. 2021) and 51–71 cm TL (Hueter and Tyminski 2002).

Immature Bull Sharks are regularly found within the Coyote and Bongo estuaries (Chávez 2017; De la Llata Quiroga 2021; E. Chávez et al. unpubl. data 2022). These can be considered neonates, young-of-the-year, and juveniles. Fifty juvenile Bull Sharks with evident umbilical scars (either open or closed) and measuring between 68–117 cm TL were captured in independent fishing surveys (Chávez 2017; De la Llata Quiroga 2021; E. Chávez unpubl. data 2022). This corresponds with the neonate size range of 70–82 cm TL, young-of-the-year size range of 68–89 cm TL, and juvenile size range of 91–189 cm TL (Simpfendorfer 2005).

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C4 – MOVEMENT

Coyote-Bongo is an important area for the movement of one shark species. There is strong evidence of residency, movement patterns, and habitat use of Bull sharks within the Coyote estuary and in the surrounding coastal habitats (Chávez 2017; E. Chávez et al. unpubl. data 2022).

Juvenile Bull Sharks (n = 6) were tagged with acoustic transmitters programmed to produce a signal every three seconds (Chávez 2017). Individuals moved in and out of the area daily. They remained within the estuary during daylight hours (05:00–17:00) and swam towards the coast at night (20:00–04:00). This movement pattern is evidence of the connectivity between estuarine and coastal habitats by juvenile Bull Sharks, as well as a strategy used to avoid predation risk during the day while increasing their search for prey at night.

Furthermore, Bull Sharks displayed ecological connectivity along the south pacific coast of the Nicoya Peninsula. Preliminary data indicate that at least five Bull Sharks tagged in the Coyote and Bongo area were detected in the Cabo Blanco Marine Protected Area (MPA) approximately one year after being tagged. This suggests that Bull Sharks (3–4 years old) travel about 40 km (linear distance) from their birth site in Coyote, to coastal and insular habitats located at Cabo Blanco MPA (E. Chávez et al. unpubl. data 2022).

Juvenile Bull Sharks are regularly observed at the beginning of the rainy season (May-June) by local fishers (A. Quiros pers. comm. 2022). However, animals tagged in August exhibited a continuous presence within the Coyote estuary and its adjacent waters between August to March of the same year (Chávez 2017). Juvenile Bull Sharks display high residency (residency index: 0.6 ± 0.3), and site fidelity (<100 m) in the Coyote estuary. Based on acoustic telemetry (passive and active), data indicate that Bull Sharks use ~70% (35.8–170.3 km2) of the Coyote estuary; especially the upper areas where mangrove forests are more abundant and with more favourable salinity conditions (farther from the mouth).

Coyote-Bongo

SUBMIT A REQUEST

ISRA SPATIAL LAYER REQUEST

To make a request to download the ISRA Layer in either a GIS compatible Shapefile (.shp) or Google Earth compatible Keyhole Markup Language Zipped file (.kmz) please complete the following form. We will review your request and send the download details to you. We will endeavor to send you the requested files as soon as we can. However, please note that this is not an automated process, and before requests are responded to, they undergo internal review and authorization. As such, requests normally take 5–10 working days to process.

Should you have questions about the data or process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

    * indicates required

    Industry or sector (*)

    Under the terms and conditions of our User License Agreement , full and appropriate acknowledgement is required in any materials and publications derived from the data (and copies should be sent to the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group through the contact form). For any publications making substantial use of the data, the ISRA welcomes the opportunity for co-authorship, collaboration, and to comment prior to publication.


    Furthermore, we need to know whether you are a commercial or non-commercial user. Non-commercial includes scientific research, education or conservation. Commercial is defined as follows: any use by, on behalf of, or to inform or assist the activities of a commercial entity (that operates ‘for profit’) or use by a non-profit for the purposes of revenue generation

    Type of use(*):

    Please specify which layer (ex. all layers, layers within a specific Region, layers within a Jurisdiction or a single ISRA): Purpose (*):

    Please provide a description of how you intend to use the ISRA GIS Dataset. The more details you provide, the faster we can respond to your request. We may require further clarification prior to providing access. (min. 100 characters – max 1,000 characters)



    File format request (*)

    By providing your personal data, you consent to its processing as described below. The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group will use the information you provide on this form to send the documents you requested. You can change your mind at any time by writing to the ISRA Data Coordinator www.sharkrayareas.org/contact. All personal details provided will be treated with respect. For any information you can visit our Privacy Policy.
    Please read the User License Agreement and ISRA Layer Metadata Description

    This form uses Google reCaptcha to reduce spam. Privacy - Terms