Pollom, Riley A., Cheok, Jessica, Pacoureau, Nathan, Gledhill, Katie S., Kyne, Peter M., Ebert, David A., Jabado, Rima W., Herman, Katelyn B., Bennett, Rhett H., da Silva, Charlene, Fernando, Stela, Kuguru, Baraka, Leslie, Robin W., McCord, Meaghen E., Samoilys, Melita, Winker, Henning, Fennessy, Sean T., Pollock, Caroline M., Rigby, Cassandra L., and Dulvy, Nicholas K. (2024) Overfishing and climate change elevate extinction risk of endemic sharks and rays in the southwest Indian Ocean hotspot. PLoS ONE, 19. e0306813.

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Abstract

Here, we summarise the extinction risk of the sharks and rays endemic to coastal, shelf, and slope waters of the southwest Indian Ocean and adjacent waters (SWIO+, Namibia to Kenya, including SWIO islands). This region is a hotspot of endemic and evolutionarily distinct sharks and rays. Nearly one-fifth (n = 13 of 70, 18.6%) of endemic sharks and rays are threatened, of these: one is Critically Endangered, five are Endangered, and seven are Vulnerable. A further seven (10.0%) are Near Threatened, 33 (47.1%) are Least Concern, and 17 (24.3%) are Data Deficient. While the primary threat is overfishing, there are the first signs that climate change is contributing to elevated extinction risk through habitat reduction and inshore distributional shifts. By backcasting their status, few endemic species were threatened in 1980, but this changed soon after the emergence of targeted shark and ray fisheries. South Africa has the highest national conservation responsibility, followed by Mozambique and Madagascar. Yet, while fisheries management and enforcement have improved in South Africa over recent decades, substantial improvements are urgently needed elsewhere. To avoid extinction and ensure robust populations of the region’s endemic sharks and rays and maintain ecosystem functionality, there is an urgent need for the strict protection of Critically Endangered and Endangered species and sustainable management of Vulnerable, Near Threatened, and Least Concern species, underpinned by species-level data collection and reduction of incidental

Item ID:	85512
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1932-6203
Copyright Information:	© 2024 Pollom et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Date Deposited:	15 May 2025 23:50
FoR Codes:	41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation > 410102 Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation @ 50% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 50%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180201 Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems @ 100%
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