Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Industrial fishing boats leave few safe havens for sharks on the high seas

Global satellite tracking of the oceans has revealed a high degree of spatial overlap between where sharks and industrial fishing vessels are found. This finding underscores the need for shark-conservation efforts.
  1. Julia K. Baum

    1. Julia K. Baum is in the Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2, Canada.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Oceans cover 70% of our planet, extending for hundreds of millions of kilometres. Despite their vastness, oceans have not escaped the effects of human activity, and evidence has steadily accumulated in recent decades that disturbances such as overexploitation1, plastic pollution2 and climate change3 have had major negative consequences for marine life. Writing in Nature, Queiroz et al.4 add another dimension to this story by showing that vessels fishing on the high seas (the regions of oceans beyond national boundaries) overlap substantially with areas of the ocean that are frequented by sharks, leaving these wide-ranging animals with scant refuge from fishing pressure.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 572, 449-450 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02357-2

References

  1. Worm, B. et al. Science 325, 578–585 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Jambeck, J. R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C. & Siegler, T. R. Science 347, 768–771 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Hughes, T. P. et al. Science 359, 80–83 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Queiroz, N. et al. Nature 572, 461–466 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Barrett, O. Sci. Mon. 27, 125–133 (1928).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Stevens, J. D., Bonfil, R., Dulvy, N. K. & Walker, P. A. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 57, 476–494 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Baum, J. K. et al. Science 299, 389–392 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Ferretti, F., Myers, R. A., Serena, F. & Lotze, H. K. Conserv. Biol. 22, 952–964 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (eds Brondizio, E. S., Settele, J., Díaz, S. & Ngo, H. T.) (IPBES, 2019).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kroodsma, D. A. et al. Science 359, 904–908 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Worm, B. et al. Mar. Policy 40, 194–204 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Sala, E. et al. Sci. Adv. 4, eaat2504 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. White, C. & Costello, C. PLoS Biol. 12, e1001826 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Fox, A. Science https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax5706 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links