their distribution range. The giant guitarfishes are captured in industrial, artisanal, and subsistence fisheries with multiple fishing methods including, gillnetting, trawling, traditional hook and line, trapping, and seine netting. After capture, the giant guitarfishes are generally retained for their meat and fins. There is an exceptionally high level of fisheries resource use and increasing fishing pressure across the range of the giant guitarfish, and demersal coastal fisheries resources have been severely depleted in crucial areas of the Indo-West Pacific, including India and other regions of Southeast Asia. Apart from these designated areas, fishing pressure is substantially lower in northern Australia. From a general census, fishing effort and the number of fishers has increased in recent decades across the range of the giant guitarfish species, with the demand for shark and ray product increasing over the same time period due to the shark fin trade. An example of the increase in fisheries would be the Indian state of Gujarat. In Gujarat, the number of trawlers increased approximately 6,600 in the early 2000s to 11,582 in 2010. All Indian states have an exceptionally large number of trawlers. As of 2010, Maharashtra has 5,613 trawlers, Kerala has 3,678 trawlers, and Tamil Nadu has 5,767. Given the compiled trawlers across India, there's a total of 35,228 trawlers that are utilized in India's fisheries industries. Along with the high numbers of trawlers, over 20,257 gillnetters are established across India and most countries have a significant number of fishing fleets operating in the coastal waters. For instance, Sri Lanka had 24,600 gillnet vessels operating in 2004 and Indonesia had approximately 600,000 fishing vessels operating in the marine waters. As of today, the numbers of the operating vessels are only estimated to be higher than before. Sharks and rays, including giant guitarfishes, are often targeted and are now heavily exploited across the regions by netting and trawl fisheries, and increasing fishing effort has put a significant amount of pressure on all the guitarfish species in the Indo-West Pacific. In addition to this, the high value of fins is the utmost driving retention and trade of giant guitarfishes globally. The giant guitarfish is landed heavily throughout its range and several countries within the distribution of this species rank among the top twenty shark fishing nations globally. Specifically, countries such as Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Sri Lanka share the giant guitarfish's distribution and are countries that have