Identifying priority sites for whale shark ship collision management globally

The expansion of the world's merchant fleet poses a great threat to the ocean's biodiversity. Collisions between ships and marine megafauna can have population-level consequences for vulnerable species. The Endangered whale shark (Rhincodon typus) shares a circumglobal distribution with th...

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Published in:	The Science of the total environment Vol. 934; p. 172776
Main Authors:	Womersley, Freya C., Rohner, Christoph A., Abrantes, Kátya, Afonso, Pedro, Arunrugstichai, Shin, Bach, Steffen S., Bar, Shir, Barash, Adi, Barnes, Peter, Barnett, Adam, Boldrocchi, Ginevra, Buffat, Noemie, Canon, Tom, Perez, Clara Canovas, Chuangcharoendee, Metavee, Cochran, Jesse E.M., de la Parra, Rafael, Diamant, Stella, Driggers, William, Dudgeon, Christine L., Erdmann, Mark V., Fitzpatrick, Richard, Flam, Anna, Fontes, Jorge, Francis, Gemma, Galvan, Beatriz Eugenia, Graham, Rachel T., Green, Sofia M., Green, Jonathan R., Grosmark, Ya'ara, Guzman, Hector M., Hardenstine, Royale S., Harvey, Maria, Harvey-Carroll, Jessica, Hasan, Abdi Wunanto, Hearn, Alex R., Hendon, Jill M., Putra, Mochamad Iqbal Herwata, Himawan, Mahardika Rizqi, Hoffmayer, Eric, Holmberg, Jason, Hsu, Hua Hsun, Jaidah, Mohammed Y., Jansen, Ashlee, Judd, Christy, Kuguru, Baraka, Lester, Emily, Macena, Bruno C.L., Magson, Kirsty, Maguiño, Rossana, Manjaji-Matsumoto, Mabel, Marcoux, Stacia D., Marcoux, Travis, McKinney, Jennifer, Meekan, Mark, Mendoza, Alejandra, Moazzam, Muhammad, Monacella, Emily, Norman, Brad, Perry, Cameron, Pierce, Simon, Prebble, Clare, Macías, Dení Ramírez, Raudino, Holly, Reynolds, Samantha, Robinson, David, Rowat, David, Santos, Mudjekeewis D., Schmidt, Jennifer, Scott, Chad, See, Sian Tian, Sianipar, Abraham, Speed, Conrad W., Syakurachman, Ismail, Tyne, Julian A., Waples, Kelly, Winn, Chloe, Yuneni, Ranny R., Zareer, Irthisham, Araujo, Gonzalo
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15-07-2024
Subjects:	Collision threat Endangered species Environmental Sciences Marine megafauna Miljövetenskap Socio-economic conflict Spatial management Socio-economic conflict Marine megafauna Endangered species Spatial management Collision threat
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Summary:	The expansion of the world's merchant fleet poses a great threat to the ocean's biodiversity. Collisions between ships and marine megafauna can have population-level consequences for vulnerable species. The Endangered whale shark (Rhincodon typus) shares a circumglobal distribution with this expanding fleet and tracking of movement pathways has shown that large vessel collisions pose a major threat to the species. However, it is not yet known whether they are also at risk within aggregation sites, where up to 400 individuals can gather to feed on seasonal bursts of planktonic productivity. These “constellation” sites are of significant ecological, socio-economic and cultural value. Here, through expert elicitation, we gathered information from most known constellation sites for this species across the world (>50 constellations and >13,000 individual whale sharks). We defined the spatial boundaries of these sites and their overlap with shipping traffic. Sites were then ranked based on relative levels of potential collision danger posed to whale sharks in the area. Our results showed that researchers and resource managers may underestimate the threat posed by large ship collisions due to a lack of direct evidence, such as injuries or witness accounts, which are available for other, sub-lethal threat categories. We found that constellations in the Arabian Sea and adjacent waters, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of California, and Southeast and East Asia, had the greatest level of collision threat. We also identified 39 sites where peaks in shipping activity coincided with peak seasonal occurrences of whale sharks, sometimes across several months. Simulated collision mitigation options estimated potentially minimal impact to industry, as most whale shark core habitat areas were small. Given the threat posed by vessel collisions, a coordinated, multi-national approach to mitigation is needed within priority whale shark habitats to ensure collision protection for the species. [Display omitted] •The marine biosphere is at risk from expanding maritime human activities.•Collisions between large ships and marine megafauna are in need of management attention.•Shipping was measured in over 50 global whale shark aggregation sites.•Peaks in shipping activity often coincided with peak seasonal occurrences of whale sharks.•Changes to ship speed or transiting routes can be targeted in small, localised zones.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0048-9697 1879-1026 1879-1026
DOI:	10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172776