Global collision-risk hotspots of marine traffic and the world’s largest fish, the whale shark

© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Womersley, F. C., Humphries, N. E., Queiroz, N., Vedor, M., da Costa, I., Furtado, M., Tyminski, J. P., Abrantes, K., Araujo, G., Bach, S. S., Barnett, A., Berumen, M. L., Bessudo Lion, S., Braun, C. D., Clingham, E., Cochran, J. E. M., de la Parra, R., Diamant, S., Dove, A. D. M., Dudgeon, C. L., Erdmann, M. V., Espinoza, E., Fitzpatrick, R., González Cano, J., Green, J. R., Guzman, H. M., Hardenstine, R., Hasan, A., Hazin, F. H. V., Hearn, A. R., Hueter, R. E., Jaidah, M. Y., Labaja, J., Ladinol, F., Macena, B. C. L., Morris Jr., J. J., Norman, B. M., Peñaherrera-Palmav, C., Pierce, S. J., Quintero, L. M., Ramırez-Macías, D., Reynolds, S. D., Richardson, A. J., Robinson, D. P., Rohner, C. A., Rowat, D. R. L., Sheaves, M., Shivji, M. S., Sianipar, A. B., Skomal, G. B., Soler, G., Syakurachman, I., Thorrold, S. R., Webb, D. H., Wetherbee, B. M., White, T. D., Clavelle, T., Kroodsma, D. A., Thums, M., Ferreira, L. C., Meekan, M. G., Arrowsmith, L. M., Lester, E. K., Meyers, M. M., Peel, L. R., Sequeira, A. M. M., Eguıluz, V. M., Duarte, C. M., & Sims, D. W. Global collision-risk hotspots of marine traffic and the world’s largest fish, the whale shark. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(20), (2022): e2117440119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117440119.Marine traffic is increasing globally yet collisions with endangered megafauna such as whales, sea turtles, and planktivorous sharks go largely undetected or unreported. Collisions leading to mortality can have population-level consequences for endangered species. Hence, identifying simultaneous space use of megafauna and shipping throughout ranges may reveal as-yet-unknown spatial targets requiring conservation. However, global studies tracking megafauna and shipping occurrences are lacking. Here we combine satellite-tracked movements of the whale shark, Rhincodon typus, and vessel activity to show that 92% of sharks’ horizontal space use and nearly 50% of vertical space use overlap with persistent large vessel (>300 gross tons) traffic. Collision-risk estimates correlated with reported whale shark mortality from ship strikes, indicating higher mortality in areas with greatest overlap. Hotspots of potential collision risk were evident in all major oceans, predominantly from overlap with cargo and tanker vessels, and were concentrated in gulf regions, where dense traffic co-occurred with seasonal shark movements. Nearly a third of whale shark hotspots overlapped with the highest collision-risk areas, with the last known locations of tracked sharks coinciding with busier shipping routes more often than expected. Depth-recording tags provided evidence for sinking, likely dead, whale sharks, suggesting substantial “cryptic” lethal ship strikes are possible, which could explain why whale shark population declines continue despite international protection and low fishing-induced mortality. Mitigation measures to reduce ship-strike risk should be considered to conserve this species and other ocean giants that are likely experiencing similar impacts from growing global vessel traffic.Funding for data analysis was provided by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through a University of Southampton INSPIRE DTP PhD Studentship to F.C.W. Additional funding for data analysis was provided by NERC Discovery Science (NE/R00997/X/1) and the European Research Council (ERC-AdG-2019 883583 OCEAN DEOXYFISH) to D.W.S., Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under PTDC/BIA/28855/2017 and COMPETE POCI-01–0145-FEDER-028855, and MARINFO–NORTE-01–0145-FEDER-000031 (funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Program [NORTE2020] under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund–ERDF) to N.Q. FCT also supported N.Q. (CEECIND/02857/2018) and M.V. (PTDC/BIA-COM/28855/2017). D.W.S. was supported by a Marine Biological Association Senior Research Fellowship. All tagging procedures were approved by institutional ethical review bodies and complied with all relevant ethical regulations in the jurisdictions in which they were performed. Details for individual research teams are given in SI Appendix, section 8. Full acknowledgments for tagging and field research are given in SI Appendix, section 7. This research is part of the Global Shark Movement Project (https://www.globalsharkmovement.org)

Limited latitudinal ranging of juvenile whale sharks in the Western Indian Ocean suggests the existence of regional management units

Assessing the movements and connectivity of whale sharks Rhincodon typus through their range is difficult due to high individual mobility and limited knowledge of their behaviour following dispersal from coastal aggregation sites. Here, we use a large set of photo-identification and stable isotope data (δ15N and δ13C) to test the assumption that sharks frequenting aggregation sites in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Qatar are a mixed stock, as inferred by genetic data. Photo-identification revealed negligible connectivity among aggregation sites and none between the southern and central areas of the Western Indian Ocean (Mozambique and Tanzania) and the Arabian Gulf (Qatar). Sight−resight data indicated that shark movements at each site could be best represented by a model that included emigration, re-immigration, and some mortality or permanent emigration. Although there was high individual variation in the isotope profiles of sharks from each location, comparison with latitudinal isotope data suggests that sharks had shown site fidelity to within a few hundred kilometres of each study area over the period of isotopic integration. Given the Endangered status of whale sharks and regional differences in anthropogenic threat profiles, further studies — and conservation assessment efforts — should consider the possibility that whale shark subpopulations exist over smaller geographical scales than previously documented.</p

Percentage time-at-temperature for 50 whale sharks tagged with temperature recording satellite tags at Al Shaheen between 2011–2014.

<p>Percentage time-at-temperature for 50 whale sharks tagged with temperature recording satellite tags at Al Shaheen between 2011–2014.</p

Summary data from 20 PAT tags deployed on male (M) and female (F) whale sharks in Al Shaheen, Qatar.

<p>Summary data from 20 PAT tags deployed on male (M) and female (F) whale sharks in Al Shaheen, Qatar.</p

El retrato en el reinado de Felipe V. La influencia artística francesa en la Corte de Madrid (1700-1746)

Treball Final de Grau en Història i Patrimoni. Codi: HP1036. Curs acadèmic: 2016/2017The portrait in the reign of Philip V is conceived as the tool and way of expression most used for the representation of the image of the power, being an object of numerous studies that try to explain the political and social events that marked the epoch. Nevertheless, nowadays remain manswered questions in relation to the explanation of artistic and sociocultural influences and the scope that these had for the society. With the aim to analyze from an historical artistic approach the pictorial French influence in the reign of Philip V and the social and cultural reasons that base it, as well as to show the consequences that it had for the artistic and social area of the society, It is proposed different theoretical approaches that stem from the History, the Art and the Apparel, besides the portrait as principal category. Likewise, it is showed the context and the artistic tour of the painters of chamber of the Spanish court and the French court, with Luis XV and Luis XVI, appearing the possibility of making more understandable the stylistic and thematic change of the portraits from 1700, until 1789 approximately. In the same way, the methodology of this work of qualitative cut has been the narrative not systematic review on the art across the databases of numerous publications have been documented as result of the artistic evolution of the most relevant painters of the Illustration in Spain and France, as well as the repercussion for the people´s culture at the historical and social level. The consideration of these repercussions implies being conscious of this phenomenon and a bigger deepening in it, being suggested proposals that until now had been little studied for the artistic, educational, and professional areas, as well as for the academic sphare.El retrato en el reinado de Felipe V se concibe como la herramienta y medio de expresión más utilizado para la representación de la imagen del poder, siendo objeto de numerosos estudios que tratan de explicar los acontecimientos políticos y sociales que marcaron la época. No obstante, actualmente permanecen interrogantes respecto a la explicación de sus influencias artísticas y socioculturales y el alcance que estas tuvieron para la sociedad. Con el objetivo de analizar desde un enfoque histórico artístico la influencia pictórica francesa en el reinado de Felipe V y las causas sociales y culturales que la fundamentan, así como mostrar las consecuencias que tuvo para el ámbito artístico y social de la sociedad, se proponen diferentes enfoques teóricos que se derivan de la Historia, el Arte y la Indumentaria, además del retrato como categoría principal. Así mismo, se muestra la contextualización y el recorrido artístico de los pintores de cámara de la corte española y la corte francesa, con Luis XV y Luis XVI, planteándose la posibilidad de hacer más comprensible el cambio estilístico y temático de los retratos desde 1700, hasta 1789 aproximadamente. Del mismo modo, la metodología de este trabajo de corte cualitativo ha sido la revisión narrativa no sistemática sobre el arte a través de las bases de datos de numerosas publicaciones que se documentan como resultado de la evolución artística de los pintores más relevantes de la Ilustración en España y Francia, así como la repercusión para la cultura de las personas a nivel histórico y social. La consideración de estas repercusiones implica ser consciente de este fenómeno y una mayor profundización en él, sugiriéndose propuestas que hasta ahora habían sido poco estudiadas para el ámbito artístico, docente, y profesional, así como para el académico

Overview of all locations generated from light-level analysis.

<p>The colour of the symbol indicates the tag ID as shown to the right.</p

The estimated straight-line 2644 km journey of a presumed pregnant whale shark tagged in Al Shaheen.

<p>The estimated straight-line 2644 km journey of a presumed pregnant whale shark tagged in Al Shaheen.</p

Overview of all locations transmitted by Argos tags from the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, split into years and season, together with Arabian Gulf bathymetry.

<p>Overview of all locations transmitted by Argos tags from the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, split into years and season, together with Arabian Gulf bathymetry.</p