Scientists: Shipping a significant threat to endangered whale sharks
SHIPPING poses an increasingly “significant threat” to the endangered whale shark, warns a new study.
Researchers found that ships are killing large numbers of the biggest of any fish species alive today.
The gentle giants feed on plankton and travel long distances to find enough food to sustain their huge size, and to reproduce. The maximum size of whale sharks is not known, but could be as large as 20 metres (65 ft).
Now scientists from the Marine Biological Association (MBA) and Southampton University have led ground-breaking research that indicates lethal collisions of whale sharks with large ships are “vastly underestimated” and could be the reason populations are falling.
Whale shark numbers have been declining in recent years in many locations, but it is not entirely clear why.
Because whale sharks spend a large amount of time in surface waters and gather in coastal regions, experts suggested collisions with ships could be causing substantial whale shark deaths, but there was previously no way of monitoring the threat.
Freya Womersley, who led the study as part of the Global Shark Movement Project (GSMP), said: “The maritime shipping industry that allows us to source everyday products from all over the world may be causing the decline of whale sharks, which are a hugely important species in our oceans.”
Professor David Sims, senior research fellow at the MBA and Southampton University and founder of the GSMP, said: “It is sad to think that many deaths of these incredible animals have occurred globally due to ships without us even knowing to take preventative measures.”