Over 100 shark and ray species were recently added to an international treaty, known as the CITES list, to protect them from the threat of unsustainable and illegal trade.
A green turtle on Aldabra entangled in abandoned fishing gear.
Rich Baxter
Sharks and rays are traded for their meat, liver and other products. The global demand for these products has increased, and in India, the trade affects livelihoods and culture.
Fining and jailing Indonesian fishers taking shark fin is a knee-jerk solution. As long as sharks keep vanishing and demand for shark fin soup remains high, illegal fishing will continue.
Hammerhead sharks schooling near Costa Rica’s Cocos Island.
John Voo/Flickr
Many surfers have seen sharks while surfing in the ocean. Yet, unlike the general public, 60% are not afraid of sharks. It’s a finding that offers an insight into attitudes to shark conservation.
A close encounter between a white shark and a surfer.
Author provided
Discerning whether that dark splodge in the water is a shark or just, say, seaweed isn’t always straightforward. In reasonable conditions, drone pilots get it right only 60% of the time.
Thousands of hours of ocean footage reveal how fish rub their heads on sharks to scrape off parasites and scratch itches.
Whitetip sharks amid a school of anthias near Jarvis island in the South Pacific.
Kelvin Gorospe, NOAA/NMFS/Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Blog/Flickr
Sharks are much more severely threatened by humans than vice versa. A marine biologist explains how people can help protect sharks and why some strategies are more effective than others.
A large group of yellowfin tuna swimming off the coast of Italy. Like all fish, they sleep, but it’s not like human sleep.
Giordano Cipriani/The Image Bank via Getty Images
The scars many whales bear throughout their lives resulting from shark attacks are more than sufficient evidence sharks will have a go if an opportunity arises.
I attest these rather ordinary, mud-covered stingrays are beautiful, and I never tire of watching them. Unfortunately, they are at risk of decline and localised extinctions.
The true cost of marine conservation often falls on vulnerable coastal communities. Can a ‘beneficiary pays’ approach protect both endangered species and the communities dependent on them?
A great hammerhead shark’s two eyes can be 3 feet apart on opposite sides of its skull.
Ken Kiefer 2/Image Source via Getty Images
Emma Kast, University of Cambridge; Jeremy McCormack, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, and Sora Kim, University of California, Merced
Megalodon, the world’s largest known shark species, swam the oceans long before humans existed. Its teeth are all that’s left, and they tell a story of an apex predator that vanished.
Marine Biologist, South African National Parks (SANParks); Honorary Research Associate, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity