Half a century of global decline in oceanic sharks and rays

Nathan Pacoureau (), Cassandra L. Rigby, Peter M. Kyne, Richard B. Sherley (), Henning Winker, John K. Carlson, Sonja V. Fordham, Rodrigo Barreto, Daniel Fernando, Malcolm P. Francis, Rima W. Jabado, Katelyn B. Herman, Kwang-Ming Liu, Andrea D. Marshall, Riley A. Pollom, Evgeny V. Romanov, Colin A. Simpfendorfer, Jamie S. Yin, Holly K. Kindsvater and Nicholas K. Dulvy
Additional contact information
Nathan Pacoureau: Simon Fraser University
Cassandra L. Rigby: James Cook University
Peter M. Kyne: Charles Darwin University
Richard B. Sherley: University of Exeter, Penryn Campus
Henning Winker: Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission
John K. Carlson: Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Panama City Laboratory
Sonja V. Fordham: The Ocean Foundation
Rodrigo Barreto: Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio)
Daniel Fernando: Blue Resources Trust
Malcolm P. Francis: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Rima W. Jabado: Elasmo Project
Katelyn B. Herman: Georgia Aquarium
Kwang-Ming Liu: National Taiwan Ocean University, Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University
Andrea D. Marshall: Marine Megafauna Foundation
Riley A. Pollom: Simon Fraser University
Evgeny V. Romanov: CAP RUN — CITEB
Colin A. Simpfendorfer: James Cook University
Jamie S. Yin: Simon Fraser University
Holly K. Kindsvater: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Nicholas K. Dulvy: Simon Fraser University

Nature, 2021, vol. 589, issue 7843, 567-571

Abstract: 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 seas1–3. Here we calculate two well-established indicators to track progress towards Aichi Biodiversity Targets and Sustainable Development Goals4,5: 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 collapse6,7, avoid the disruption of ecological functions and promote species recovery8,9.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03173-9

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