Sharks, rays, and their relatives the chimaeras live in both polar oceans, but much of the habitat they depend on is poorly studied. A new study identifies key habitats for them across both poles, and shows how little of that area lies inside marine protected areas.
Mapping important habitats
The study in Global Change Biology was led by Vanessa Bettcher of the Shark Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with MMF Principal Scientist Dr. Chris Rohner among the co-authors. It is the first assessment of Important Shark and Ray Areas across the Arctic and Antarctic. The team brought together species records, risk of extinction, fishing activity, marine protected areas, and trends in sea ice.
Existing records list 86 species of sharks, rays, and chimaeras in polar waters, and 28 of them are threatened with extinction. The team identified 35 Important Shark and Ray Areas. These are places with evidence that they matter to these animals, for example as breeding areas or as home to a species with a very small range. Together these areas cover 0.75% of the polar study region. Only 15 of the 86 species had enough evidence to meet the criteria. That says as much about how little research has been done in these remote waters as it does about where the animals live.
Fishing and protection do not line up
Marine protected areas, some of which still allow fishing, overlap only 8.2% of the area of the Arctic sites, compared with 43.8% in the Antarctic. No-take zones, where fishing and other extraction are banned, cover even less: 0.8% in the Arctic and 14.8% in the Antarctic. An Important Shark and Ray Area identifies an important place; it does not by itself create legal protection.
The team compared fishing activity, tracked from vessel signals, in 2013–2018 and 2019–2024. Between the two periods, the area fished with trawl nets and long lines of baited hooks grew in both polar regions, and fishing was detected in most of the mapped areas. So far, the team found very little overlap between places where fishing has increased and places where sea ice has declined. The authors warn that the risk is likely to grow as retreating sea ice opens more polar waters to fishing.
Turning maps into decisions
The authors recommend building these areas into existing agreements and management. These include the Global Biodiversity Framework, the international agreement to protect nature; the High Seas Treaty, which covers waters beyond national boundaries; and the bodies that manage polar fisheries. They also call for more observations from sources other than fishing catches, which currently supply much of the evidence. Cameras, tracking tags, and the knowledge of local and Indigenous communities could reveal habitats that existing surveys miss.
The work was funded by the Shark Conservation Fund. Read the open-access paper, learn more about the threats of habitat loss and climate change, or make a donation to support MMF’s research on sharks and rays.