Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Guinea, Senegal and South Africa, but they are likely already functionally extirpated or entirely extirpated from several of these countries. Illegal fishing continues and in many countries enforcement of fishing laws is lacking. Even in Australia where relatively well-protected, people are occasionally caught illegally trying to sell sawfish parts, especially the saw. The saw is distinctive, but it can be difficult to identify flesh or fins as originating from sawfish when cut up for sale at fish markets. This can be resolved with DNA testing. If protected their relatively low reproduction rates make these animals especially slow to recover from overfishing. An example of this is the largetooth sawfish in Lake Nicaragua where once abundant. The population rapidly crashed during the 1970s when tens of thousands were caught. It was protected by the Nicaraguan government in the early 1980s, but remains rare today. Nevertheless, there are indications that at least the smalltooth sawfish population may be able to recover at a faster pace than formerly believed, if well-protected. Uniquely in this family, the narrow sawfish has a relatively fast reproduction rate (generation length about 4.6 years, less than one-third the time of the other species), it has experienced the smallest contraction of its range (30%) and it is one of only two species considered Endangered rather than Critically Endangered by the IUCN. The other rated as Endangered is the dwarf sawfish, but this primarily reflects that its main decline happened at least 100 years ago and IUCN ratings are based on the time period of the last three generations (estimated about 49 years in dwarf sawfish). There are several research projects aimed at sawfish in Australia and North America, but also a few in other continents. The Florida Museum of Natural History maintains the International Sawfish Encounter Database where people worldwide are encouraged to report any sawfish encounters, whether it was living or a rostrum seen for sale in a shop/online. Its data is used by biologists and conservationists for evaluating the habitat, range and abundance of sawfish around the world. In an attempt of increasing the knowledge of their plight the first "Sawfish Day" was held on 17 October 2017, and this was repeated on the same date in 2018. See also Threatened rays Notes References Further reading Sawfish Australian Marine Conservation Society Report your sawfish sighting to Sharks and Rays Australia External links