Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Aug;572(7770):461-466.
doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1444-4. Epub 2019 Jul 24.

Global spatial risk assessment of sharks under the footprint of fisheries

Nuno Queiroz  1   2 Nicolas E Humphries  2 Ana Couto  1 Marisa Vedor  1   3 Ivo da Costa  1 Ana M M Sequeira  4   5 Gonzalo Mucientes  1 António M Santos  1   3 Francisco J Abascal  6 Debra L Abercrombie  7 Katya Abrantes  8 David Acuña-Marrero  9 André S Afonso  10   11 Pedro Afonso  12   13   14 Darrell Anders  15 Gonzalo Araujo  16 Randall Arauz  17   18   19 Pascal Bach  20 Adam Barnett  8 Diego Bernal  21 Michael L Berumen  22 Sandra Bessudo Lion  19   23 Natalia P A Bezerra  10 Antonin V Blaison  20 Barbara A Block  24 Mark E Bond  25 Ramón Bonfil  26 Russell W Bradford  27 Camrin D Braun  28 Edward J Brooks  29 Annabelle Brooks  29   30 Judith Brown  31 Barry D Bruce  27 Michael E Byrne  32   33 Steven E Campana  34 Aaron B Carlisle  35 Demian D Chapman  25 Taylor K Chapple  24 John Chisholm  36 Christopher R Clarke  37 Eric G Clua  38 Jesse E M Cochran  22 Estelle C Crochelet  39   40 Laurent Dagorn  20 Ryan Daly  41   42 Daniel Devia Cortés  43 Thomas K Doyle  44   45 Michael Drew  46 Clinton A J Duffy  47 Thor Erikson  48 Eduardo Espinoza  19   49 Luciana C Ferreira  50 Francesco Ferretti  24 John D Filmalter  20   42 G Chris Fischer  51 Richard Fitzpatrick  8 Jorge Fontes  12   13   14 Fabien Forget  20 Mark Fowler  52 Malcolm P Francis  53 Austin J Gallagher  54   55 Enrico Gennari  42   56   57 Simon D Goldsworthy  58 Matthew J Gollock  59 Jonathan R Green  60 Johan A Gustafson  61 Tristan L Guttridge  62 Hector M Guzman  63 Neil Hammerschlag  55   64 Luke Harman  44 Fábio H V Hazin  10 Matthew Heard  46 Alex R Hearn  19   65   66 John C Holdsworth  67 Bonnie J Holmes  68 Lucy A Howey  69 Mauricio Hoyos  19   70 Robert E Hueter  71 Nigel E Hussey  72 Charlie Huveneers  46 Dylan T Irion  73 David M P Jacoby  74 Oliver J D Jewell  75   76 Ryan Johnson  77 Lance K B Jordan  69 Salvador J Jorgensen  78 Warren Joyce  52 Clare A Keating Daly  41 James T Ketchum  19   70 A Peter Klimley  19   79 Alison A Kock  42   80   81   82 Pieter Koen  83 Felipe Ladino  23 Fernanda O Lana  84 James S E Lea  37   85 Fiona Llewellyn  59 Warrick S Lyon  53 Anna MacDonnell  52 Bruno C L Macena  10   13 Heather Marshall  21   86 Jaime D McAllister  87 Rory McAuley  88   89 Michael A Meÿer  15 John J Morris  71 Emily R Nelson  55 Yannis P Papastamatiou  25 Toby A Patterson  27 Cesar Peñaherrera-Palma  19   90 Julian G Pepperell  91 Simon J Pierce  92 Francois Poisson  20 Lina Maria Quintero  23 Andrew J Richardson  93 Paul J Rogers  58 Christoph A Rohner  92 David R L Rowat  94 Melita Samoilys  95 Jayson M Semmens  87 Marcus Sheaves  8 George Shillinger  19   24   96 Mahmood Shivji  32 Sarika Singh  15 Gregory B Skomal  36 Malcolm J Smale  97 Laurenne B Snyders  15 German Soler  19   23   87 Marc Soria  20 Kilian M Stehfest  87 John D Stevens  27 Simon R Thorrold  98 Mariana T Tolotti  20 Alison Towner  57   76 Paulo Travassos  10 John P Tyminski  71 Frederic Vandeperre  12   13   14 Jeremy J Vaudo  32 Yuuki Y Watanabe  99   100 Sam B Weber  101 Bradley M Wetherbee  32   102 Timothy D White  24 Sean Williams  29 Patricia M Zárate  19   103 Robert Harcourt  104 Graeme C Hays  105 Mark G Meekan  50 Michele Thums  50 Xabier Irigoien  106   107 Victor M Eguiluz  108 Carlos M Duarte  22 Lara L Sousa  2   109 Samantha J Simpson  2   110 Emily J Southall  2 David W Sims  111   112   113
Affiliations
Free article

Global spatial risk assessment of sharks under the footprint of fisheries

Nuno Queiroz et al. Nature. 2019 Aug.
Free article

Abstract

Effective ocean management and the conservation of highly migratory species depend on resolving the overlap between animal movements and distributions, and fishing effort. However, this information is lacking at a global scale. Here we show, using a big-data approach that combines satellite-tracked movements of pelagic sharks and global fishing fleets, that 24% of the mean monthly space used by sharks falls under the footprint of pelagic longline fisheries. Space-use hotspots of commercially valuable sharks and of internationally protected species had the highest overlap with longlines (up to 76% and 64%, respectively), and were also associated with significant increases in fishing effort. We conclude that pelagic sharks have limited spatial refuge from current levels of fishing effort in marine areas beyond national jurisdictions (the high seas). Our results demonstrate an urgent need for conservation and management measures at high-seas hotspots of shark space use, and highlight the potential of simultaneous satellite surveillance of megafauna and fishers as a tool for near-real-time, dynamic management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Hays, G. C. et al. Key questions in marine megafauna movement ecology. Trends Ecol. Evol. 31, 463–475 (2016). - DOI
    1. Lewison, R. L. et al. Global patterns of marine mammal, seabird, and sea turtle bycatch reveal taxa-specific and cumulative megafauna hotspots. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 5271–5276 (2014). - DOI
    1. McCauley, D. J. et al. Marine defaunation: animal loss in the global ocean. Science 347, 1255641 (2015). - DOI
    1. Worm, B., Sandow, M., Oschlies, A., Lotze, H. K. & Myers, R. A. Global patterns of predator diversity in the open oceans. Science 309, 1365–1369 (2005). - DOI
    1. Queiroz, N. et al. Ocean-wide tracking of pelagic sharks reveals extent of overlap with longline fishing hotspots. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 1582–1587 (2016). - DOI

Publication types