In July 2006, the United States National Marine Fisheries Service finalized the Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Federal Management Plan. This Federal Management Plan includes a range of management measures including quotas and seasonal closures. Nurse sharks are listed under the Large Coastal Management Group in this management plan. Nurse sharks have low at-vessel mortality and most are released alive. Although there were no commercial landings in the Atlantic for the period of 2014–2018, there were landings in the Gulf of Mexico in 2015 and 2016 prior to the stoppage of data collection there for confidentiality reasons (NOAA 2019).

The Atlantic Nurse Shark is listed in the Brazilian Ordinance of Ministry of the Environment Nº 445, which restricts all harvest and trade of species listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered on the Brazilian National Red List (Feitosa et al. 2018). This legislation came into force in December of 2014, however, it was suspended for all of 2015 and the first half of 2016 due to pressure from the fishing industry (Begossi et al. 2017). The ordinance faces increasing industry pressure, including a court challenge to suspend the legislation again, by the Secretaria Nacional de Aquicultura e Pesca (SAP), who brought forward their incorrect contention that the Brazilian National Red List was designed specifically for terrestrial species (Spautz 2019).

In Mexico, there is a closed season for the shark fishery in May and June in the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Quintana Roo, and May 15 to June 15, and August 1–29 in the states of Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatán. The Official Standard NOM-029-PESC-2007 established management measures that prohibited finning and protected some elasmobranchs (Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus), White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias), Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus), sawfishes (Pristidae), and species of Mobula). It also establishes that fishing is prohibited at the surrounding area of 5 km of coral reefs, at adjacent areas in front of mouth rivers and coastal lagoons (delimited by a semicircle of 2.5 km in the mouth), and at nursery areas (gillnets prohibited in June) in front of Playa Bagdad, Tamaulipas. There is a marine protected area of 30 km from the Rio Bravo´s mouth to Conchinal; Terminos lagoon, Campeche; Usumacinta-Grijalva Rivers, Tabasco; Yalahau lagoon, Quintana Roo; and Espiritu Santo and Ascension Bays, Quintana Roo. There is also a Management Plan of the Natural Protected Area “Marine Biosphere Reserve of the Mexican Caribbean” that prohibits any elasmobranch fishery in all this biosphere reserve that comprises all Mexican Caribbean. There are enforcement problems.

The Regional Office of Fisheries of the System of Integration of Central America prohibit Shark Finning with the resolution OSP-05-11 in all of the Central American countries (from Belize to Panama), including the Dominican Republic. In the Guatemalan Caribbean, there are fishing ban for one month (usually August) for the capture of sharks (Families: Carcharhinidae, Sphyrnidae, Triakidae, and Ginglymostomatidae) and two months (usually July and August) for rays (Family Dasyatidae). However, enforcement of these bans is a challenge.

There are some marine protected areas in the central and west of Panama, which can benefit shark populations because it establishes management in these areas like fishery controlled areas. However, enforcement is a challenge. In 2006, a regulation was approved that prohibited shark finning in Panama water. In 2017, another regulation was implemented for longline fisheries (e.g. limits of number of hooks up to 1,000 per surface longline strand).

The archipelago of San Andrés y Providencia, Colombia, was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2000, it covers an area of 180,000 km² (i.e., 10% of the total area of the Caribbean Sea) and comprises some of the most productive and biodiverse reefs in the region. Since 2008, all shark species have been fully protected in the Seaﬂower Biosphere Reserve, banning ﬁshing and possession of all sharks and their byproducts. These has led to one of the highest shark abundance found in the Caribbean Sea. Local communities pushed for these shark conservation measures in the Archipelago, simplifying the enforcement by local authorities. Enforcement in remote regions against poaching has been challenging, although the Colombian Navy has been leading the enforcement of these areas and has enabled scientiﬁc data collection. In addition, Colombia has banned wire-leader on their longlining ﬁsheries as a bycatch-reduction measure across the entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), where industrial ﬁsheries are only allowed to have a total shark by catch of 35% in a single ﬁshing trip. Finning is prohibited within the Colombia EEZ and ﬁns are required to be attached naturally to the body at the moment of landing.

In Honduras, there is a national regulation (Governmental Degree 107-2011) that declared the territorial waters a shark sanctuary. Fishing and exploitation of all shark species was prohibited in all territorial waters of Honduras. This regulation was revised by a new regulation (Governmental Degree 26-2016), which indicated that sharks that are incidentally caught can be used. There are enforcement problems.

In The Bahamas, longline fishing was banned in 1993, and peak elasmobranch export occurred the same year (UN FAO). The export steadily declined until the last export of any elasmobranch product from The Bahamas occurred in 2004 (UN FAO). The Bahamas Shark Sanctuary was established in 2011 (Haas et al. 2017), and it is currently illegal to fish for, land or possess any sharks or shark parts in The Bahamas. This protection does not extend to rays or skates. Enforcement is very underfunded and inadequate, making it possible that exploitation may be occurring at present or in the future.

Cuba has designated 21% of country as a Marine Protected Area. There is no fishing for sharks or rays in these areas. The most important Marine Protected Area is Jardines de la Reina, Alejandro de Humbolt, Guanacabibes. Cuba has also two places designated for diving with sharks, Santa Lucia and Jardines de la Reina. Cuba has a prohibition on finning. In 2015 Cuba adopted a National Plan of Action for Sharks.

Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago developed draft National Plan of Action – Sharks in 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively. However, for Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, these are still in draft form due to a combination of factors including lack of political will. For the Dutch Caribbean, spatial management measures have been implemented. The Yarari Marine Mammal and Shark Sanctuary was created in 2015 for Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba in the Caribbean Netherlands. In November 2011, the Kingdom of the Netherlands ratified the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks (MoU Sharks) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.