All the bodies of salt water on Earth form one large ocean. But within this there is infinite variety; Ask any diver. In some spots there is more coral, more sea turtles, more fish and more life.
“I dive in many places around the world, and there are very few places like Fuvahmulah Atoll in the Maldives,” Amanda Batlle-Morera, a research assistant on the Key Shark and Ray Sites project, told me. “You can observe tiger sharks, thresher sharks, scalloped hammerheads, oceanic manta rays and more without casting bait to attract them.”
Designating areas that are particularly important to certain species, such as Fuvahmulah, is a long-standing strategy to protect threatened land animals, birds, and marine mammals such as whales and dolphins. Now our team of marine conservation scientists in the Important Shark and Ray Areas project are using it to help protect sharks and their relatives.
I am a marine conservation biologist and the communications officer for the project. This initiative seeks to identify locations critical for sharks and rays so that these areas can be flagged for future conservation or fisheries management measures.
Where are the sharks
Sharks and their relatives are some of the most endangered animals on Earth: More than a third of all known species are threatened with extinction. Many of these animals play vital roles in their ecosystems. The loss of marine predators could destabilize entire food webs and the ecosystems on which those food webs depend.
In recent years, management of sharks and their relatives, rays and chimeras, has focused largely on reducing the impacts of fishing and trade on these species. But their population is still rapidly declining, so new strategies are needed.
To effectively protect these important and threatened animals, my colleagues and I believe it is vital to identify and protect some freshwater habitats, as well as parts of the ocean, that are particularly important to their survival. For example, some areas are important migration routes, feeding or mating grounds, or egg-laying grounds.
Our team has created a list of technical criteria so that areas around the world can be examined and potentially designated as Important Shark and Ray Areas. We modeled these criteria on similar approaches already in use, such as key marine mammal areas, which we tailored to the specific needs and biology of sharks and their relatives.
We currently host 13 regional workshops around the world and invite local experts to identify preliminary areas of interest for consideration by our team and an independent expert review panel. We have completed three workshops so far, one focusing on the Central and South American Pacific, another on the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the third on the Western Indian Ocean, and a workshop on Asia is planned for early 2024.
Following workshops and expert reviews, each finalized Important Shark and Ray Site will be added to our e-atlas, which can be viewed online. Each region’s Important Shark and Ray Areas are published in an official summary and the entire global process will be repeated every 10 years. This cycle will allow us to consider changes to already mapped areas, such as new fishing policies or the impacts of climate change, and to consider new research that may help identify new areas.
Informing conservation policies
We recently published our summary of the Mediterranean and Black Sea region, reflecting the views of more than 180 experts from the region. It identifies 65 Important Shark and Ray Areas that vary widely in size and habitat type. Our Western Indian Ocean compilation includes over 125 areas.
These areas are important for species such as the critically endangered black-chinned guitarfish (Glaucostegus cemiculus) and intensively fished shark species such as the common hound shark (mustelus mustelus).
Some of these areas are in shallow coastal areas, such as Benidorm Island on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Others reach deep ocean waters, such as the Cocos-Galapagos Swim Path off the coast of Costa Rica and Ecuador.
The smallest site detected so far, Israel’s Palmahim saltwater pools in the southeastern Mediterranean, is only 0.03 square miles (0.09 square kilometers) in size; which is about half the size of Grand Central station in New York City. Blackmouth cat sharks (Galeus melastomus) breeds and lays eggs there and threatens rough-edged sharks (Oxynotus centrina) they feed there, including blackmouth cat shark eggs.
The largest area is the Strait of Sicily and the Tunisian Plateau, which stretches 77,000 square miles (200,000 square kilometers)—about the size of Great Britain—in the Mediterranean between Sicily, Malta, western Libya and Tunisia. This region is home to at least 32 species of sharks, rays, and chimeras, including some in danger of extinction, in habitats ranging from shallow seagrass beds to deep ocean trenches.
Designating a location as an Important Shark and Ray Area does not automatically mean that location will be protected. Our aim is to inform countries’ current spatial planning and fisheries management processes and other conservation planning. Eventually these areas may be included in marine protected areas or other types of ocean protection.
Sharks and their relatives need humans’ help to survive and maintain their important biological role in the ocean. Through the Important Shark and Ray Areas project, hundreds of scientists and other experts are helping to identify special places for these species that we believe require extra attention.
Chairman of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group, Dr. Rima Jabado contributed to this article.
This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent, nonprofit news organization providing facts and analysis to help you understand our complex world.
Written by David Shiffman Arizona State University.
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David Shiffman does not work for, consult, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic duties.