Half a century of global decline in oceanic sharks and rays

doi:10.1038/s41586-020-03173-9

. 2021 Jan;589(7843):567-571.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03173-9. Epub 2021 Jan 27.

Half a century of global decline in oceanic sharks and rays

Nathan Pacoureau¹, Cassandra L Rigby², Peter M Kyne³, Richard B Sherley⁴, Henning Winker^{5

6}, John K Carlson⁷, Sonja V Fordham⁸, Rodrigo Barreto⁹, Daniel Fernando¹⁰, Malcolm P Francis¹¹, Rima W Jabado¹², Katelyn B Herman¹³, Kwang-Ming Liu¹⁴, Andrea D Marshall¹⁵, Riley A Pollom¹⁶, Evgeny V Romanov¹⁷, Colin A Simpfendorfer², Jamie S Yin^{16

18}, Holly K Kindsvater¹⁹, Nicholas K Dulvy¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Earth to Ocean Research Group, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. [email protected].
² College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
³ Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, UK. [email protected].
⁵ Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission, Ispra, Italy.
⁶ Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁷ NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Panama City Laboratory, Panama City, FL, USA.
⁸ Shark Advocates International, The Ocean Foundation, Washington, DC, USA.
⁹ Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação da Biodiversidade Marinha do Sudeste e Sul do Brasil (CEPSUL), Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio), Itajaí, Brazil.
¹⁰ Blue Resources Trust, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
¹¹ National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand.
¹² Elasmo Project, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
¹³ Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, GA, USA.
¹⁴ Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management, George Chen Shark Research Center, National Taiwan Ocean University, Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.
¹⁵ Marine Megafauna Foundation, Truckee, CA, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Biological Sciences, Earth to Ocean Research Group, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
¹⁷ CAP RUN - CITEB, Le Port, Île de la Réunion, France.
¹⁸ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.

PMID: 33505035
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03173-9

Half a century of global decline in oceanic sharks and rays

Nathan Pacoureau et al. Nature. 2021 Jan.

. 2021 Jan;589(7843):567-571.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03173-9. Epub 2021 Jan 27.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Earth to Ocean Research Group, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. [email protected].
² College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
³ Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, UK. [email protected].
⁵ Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission, Ispra, Italy.
⁶ Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁷ NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Panama City Laboratory, Panama City, FL, USA.
⁸ Shark Advocates International, The Ocean Foundation, Washington, DC, USA.
⁹ Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação da Biodiversidade Marinha do Sudeste e Sul do Brasil (CEPSUL), Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio), Itajaí, Brazil.
¹⁰ Blue Resources Trust, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
¹¹ National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand.
¹² Elasmo Project, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
¹³ Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, GA, USA.
¹⁴ Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management, George Chen Shark Research Center, National Taiwan Ocean University, Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.
¹⁵ Marine Megafauna Foundation, Truckee, CA, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Biological Sciences, Earth to Ocean Research Group, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
¹⁷ CAP RUN - CITEB, Le Port, Île de la Réunion, France.
¹⁸ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.

PMID: 33505035
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03173-9

Abstract

Overfishing is the primary cause of marine defaunation, yet declines in and increasing extinction risks of individual species are difficult to measure, particularly for the largest predators found in the high seas^1-3. Here we calculate two well-established indicators to track progress towards Aichi Biodiversity Targets and Sustainable Development Goals^4,5: the Living Planet Index (a measure of changes in abundance aggregated from 57 abundance time-series datasets for 18 oceanic shark and ray species) and the Red List Index (a measure of change in extinction risk calculated for all 31 oceanic species of sharks and rays). We find that, since 1970, the global abundance of oceanic sharks and rays has declined by 71% owing to an 18-fold increase in relative fishing pressure. This depletion has increased the global extinction risk to the point at which three-quarters of the species comprising this functionally important assemblage are threatened with extinction. Strict prohibitions and precautionary science-based catch limits are urgently needed to avert population collapse^6,7, avoid the disruption of ecological functions and promote species recovery^8,9.

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References

1. Dulvy, N. K. et al. You can swim but you can’t hide: the global status and conservation of oceanic pelagic sharks and rays. Aquat. Conserv. 18, 459–482 (2008). - DOI
1. Webb, T. J. & Mindel, B. L. Global patterns of extinction risk in marine and non-marine systems. Curr. Biol. 25, 506–511 (2015). - PubMed - DOI
1. McCauley, D. J. et al. Marine defaunation: animal loss in the global ocean. Science 347, 1255641 (2015). - PubMed - DOI
1. Tittensor, D. P. et al. A mid-term analysis of progress toward international biodiversity targets. Science 346, 241–244 (2014). - PubMed - DOI
1. Butchart, S. H. et al. Global biodiversity: indicators of recent declines. Science 328, 1164–1168 (2010). - PubMed - DOI

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[1] Dulvy, N. K. et al. You can swim but you can’t hide: the global status and conservation of oceanic pelagic sharks and rays. Aquat. Conserv. 18, 459–482 (2008). - DOI

[2] Dulvy, N. K. et al. You can swim but you can’t hide: the global status and conservation of oceanic pelagic sharks and rays. Aquat. Conserv. 18, 459–482 (2008). - DOI

[3] Webb, T. J. & Mindel, B. L. Global patterns of extinction risk in marine and non-marine systems. Curr. Biol. 25, 506–511 (2015). - PubMed - DOI

[4] Webb, T. J. & Mindel, B. L. Global patterns of extinction risk in marine and non-marine systems. Curr. Biol. 25, 506–511 (2015). - PubMed - DOI

[5] McCauley, D. J. et al. Marine defaunation: animal loss in the global ocean. Science 347, 1255641 (2015). - PubMed - DOI

[6] McCauley, D. J. et al. Marine defaunation: animal loss in the global ocean. Science 347, 1255641 (2015). - PubMed - DOI

[7] Tittensor, D. P. et al. A mid-term analysis of progress toward international biodiversity targets. Science 346, 241–244 (2014). - PubMed - DOI

[8] Tittensor, D. P. et al. A mid-term analysis of progress toward international biodiversity targets. Science 346, 241–244 (2014). - PubMed - DOI

[9] Butchart, S. H. et al. Global biodiversity: indicators of recent declines. Science 328, 1164–1168 (2010). - PubMed - DOI

[10] Butchart, S. H. et al. Global biodiversity: indicators of recent declines. Science 328, 1164–1168 (2010). - PubMed - DOI

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Half a century of global decline in oceanic sharks and rays

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Half a century of global decline in oceanic sharks and rays

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