Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2021
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.062
Publication Title
Current Biology
Volume
31
Issue
21
Pages
4773–4787
Abstract
The scale and drivers of marine biodiversity loss are being revealed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessment process. We present the first global reassessment of 1,199 species in Class Chondrichthyes-sharks, rays, and chimeras. The first global assessment (in 2014) concluded that one-quarter (24%) of species were threatened. Now, 391 (32.6%) species are threatened with extinction. When this percentage of threat is applied to Data Deficient species, more than one-third (37.5%) of chondrichthyans are estimated to be threatened, with much of this change resulting from new information. Three species are Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct), representing possibly the first global marine fish extinctions due to overfishing. Consequently, the chondrichthyan extinction rate is potentially 25 extinctions per million species years, comparable to that of terrestrial vertebrates. Overfishing is the universal threat affecting all 391 threatened species and is the sole threat for 67.3% of species and interacts with three other threats for the remaining third: loss and degradation of habitat (31.2% of threatened species), climate change (10.2%), and pollution (6.9%). Species are disproportionately threatened in tropical and subtropical coastal waters. Science-based limits on fishing, effective marine protected areas, and approaches that reduce or eliminate fishing mortality are urgently needed to minimize mortality of threatened species and ensure sustainable catch and trade of others. Immediate action is essential to prevent further extinctions and protect the potential for food security and ecosystem functions provided by this iconic lineage of predators.
Rights
© 2021 The Author(s).
This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Data Availability
Article states: "This paper analyzes publicly available data published on the IUCN Red List version (https://www.iucnredlist.org/); Red List Assessment URLs are listed in Data S3. A browsable RMarkdown html document summarizing the analysis is available at Supplemental information, including Data S3, is available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.062.
Original Publication Citation
Dulvy, N. K., Pacoureau, N., Rigby, C. L., ... Hilton-Taylor, C., Fordham, S. V., & Simpfendorfer, C. A. (2021). Overfishing drives over one-third of all sharks and rays toward a global extinction crisis. Current Biology, 31(21), 4773–4787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.062
Repository Citation
Dulvy, Nicholas K.; Pacoureau, Nathan; Rigby, Cassandra L.; Pollom, Riley A.; Jabado, Rima W.; Ebert, David A.; Finucci, Brittany; Pollock, Caroline M.; Cheok, Jessica; Derrick, Danielle H.; Herman, Katelyn B.; Sherman, C. Samantha; Vanderwright, Wade J.; Lawson, Julia M.; Walls, Rachel H.L.; Carlson, John K.; Charvet, Patricia; Bineesh, Kinattumkara K.; Fernando, Daniel; Ralph, Gina M.; Matsushiba, Jay H.; Hilton-Taylor, Craig; Fordham, Sonja V.; and Simpfendorfer, Colin A., "Overfishing Drives Over One-Third of All Sharks and Rays Toward a Global Extinction Crisis" (2021). Biological Sciences Faculty Publications. 462.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_fac_pubs/462
Data S1.xlsx (17 kB)
Data S2.xlsx (19 kB)
Data S3.xlsx (58 kB)
Document S2.pdf (5434 kB)
Included in
Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, Biodiversity Commons, Biology Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons
Comments
Correction to the article has been added as an additional file.