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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/whale-sharks/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2026 19:31:56 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Whale Sharks</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/whale-sharks/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Whale strike risk rises as international shipping reroutes around South Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2026 06:37:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawhare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/04104305/IMG_9041-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320573</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Governance, Science, Shipping, trafficking, Whale Sharks, Whales, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In April this year, two Bryde’s whales washed-up dead-on Dyer Island, a small nature reserve located a few kilometers off the coast of Gansbaai in South Africa’s Western Cape province. Both whales carried severe injuries; their vertebrae had been shattered. “It was very clear that it was [vessel] strikes, because both those whales were snapped [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In April this year, two Bryde’s whales washed-up dead-on Dyer Island, a small nature reserve located a few kilometers off the coast of Gansbaai in South Africa’s Western Cape province. Both whales carried severe injuries; their vertebrae had been shattered. “It was very clear that it was [vessel] strikes, because both those whales were snapped in half, and you can also see the propeller marks,” Loraine Shuttleworth, head of research at the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, told Mongabay. Two whale strandings linked to ship strikes in one month alone is an unusually high number, Shuttleworth said. A new risk assessment has linked the increase in risk of ships striking whales to the rerouting of maritime traffic around South African coast. Due to the Houthi rebels attacks on ships traversing the Red Sea, which started in 2023, and the more recent fallout from the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, many cargo companies have rerouted their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. With greater shipping traffic comes a growing threat to marine species inhabiting the region: collisions with large, fast-moving vessels. Between December 2023 and December 2024, the number of large vessels traveling through South African waters at average speeds above 15 knots (28 kilometers per hour) has quadrupled, satellite data show. The scale of the increased maritime traffic struck scientist Els Vermeulen from the University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit, on a flight into Cape Town in 2025. “It was a beautiful day, and there were just&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320573</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A 10-year whale shark satellite study helps create new protected area in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-10-year-whale-shark-satellite-study-helps-create-new-protected-area-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-10-year-whale-shark-satellite-study-helps-create-new-protected-area-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2026 14:56:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Turrell]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/05093127/Konservasi-Indonesia_Whale-Shark_Photo-By-Abdi-Hasan-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318672</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, data, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Remote Sensing, Research, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“The whale sharks are a good omen for the fishers because they know when the whale sharks come, that means that lots of small fish or anchovies are around,” says Edy Setyawan, the lead conservation scientist of the Elasmobranch Institute Indonesia. It is the relationship between whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and fishers in Indonesia that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“The whale sharks are a good omen for the fishers because they know when the whale sharks come, that means that lots of small fish or anchovies are around,” says Edy Setyawan, the lead conservation scientist of the Elasmobranch Institute Indonesia. It is the relationship between whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and fishers in Indonesia that has enabled marine biologists from Konservasi International and Elasmobranch Institute Indonesia to satellite tag more than 70 whale sharks for a decade-long study that has revealed previously unknown migration routes, feeding grounds and a whale shark nursery. It is one of the biggest tracking data sets across the globe on whale sharks and is the first time such a detailed survey has been conducted in the Indo-Pacific. While 60% of the global population of whale sharks can be found in the Indo-Pacific, it can be difficult for researchers to study them because the species travel such long distances. But the researchers experienced a breakthrough when they when found out about the relationship between bagan fishers and whale sharks. A satellite-tagged whale shark. Whale sharks are filter feeders and the world&#8217;s largest fish, typically growing to about 12 meters (39 feet), but occasionally reaching 20 meters (66 feet) in length. Image by Abdi-Hasan. Bagan fishers work on floating wooden platforms from which they lower an oversized net into the water to catch fish. Working at night with lights, the fishers attract shoals of ikan bilis (anchovies) into their nets. The whale sharks, which follow the small&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-10-year-whale-shark-satellite-study-helps-create-new-protected-area-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-10-year-whale-shark-satellite-study-helps-create-new-protected-area-in-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318672</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Proposed shark net near Club Med resort in South Africa sparks conservation clash</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proposed-shark-net-near-club-med-resort-in-south-africa-sparks-conservation-clash/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proposed-shark-net-near-club-med-resort-in-south-africa-sparks-conservation-clash/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Mar 2026 15:18:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawhare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/04140820/image-de-banniere-2-23-2026-shark-nets_dead-shark-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315207</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Environment, Governance, Oceans, Whale Sharks, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 13, a juvenile humpback dolphin was caught and killed in one of the many nets strung up off the coast of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province to protect beachgoers from sharks. The incident, near the city of Richards Bay on the country&#8217;s eastern coast, was a blow for South Africa’s population of Indian ocean [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 13, a juvenile humpback dolphin was caught and killed in one of the many nets strung up off the coast of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province to protect beachgoers from sharks. The incident, near the city of Richards Bay on the country&#8217;s eastern coast, was a blow for South Africa’s population of Indian ocean humpback dolphins, which has dropped to fewer than 500 in recent decades. Shark nets, installed together with baited hooks called drum lines, aim to reduce the number of sharks that could come into contact with, and possibly harm, humans. Once entangled in these nets, which can run hundreds of meters wide, sharks have little chance of survival — nor do other species like humpback dolphins (Sousa plumbea). In the wake of the February incident, scientists working to conserve humpback dolphins issued a letter of opposition to a proposal to install another such net at a popular beach farther down the coast. Tinley Manor is a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Richards Bay, and has emerged as a flashpoint in the debate about shark nets. Municipal authorities there are proposing installing a shark net at the public beach, in view of the new Club Med luxury resort being built right next to it. The KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board (KZNSB), as the authority responsible for bather safety in the province, says it’s acting to safeguard beachgoers, whose numbers are expected to rise significantly with the opening of the resort later this year. Indian Ocean humpback dolphins. Image courtesy of Bridget&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proposed-shark-net-near-club-med-resort-in-south-africa-sparks-conservation-clash/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proposed-shark-net-near-club-med-resort-in-south-africa-sparks-conservation-clash/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315207</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Whale sharks released from nets along India’s coast as fishers turn rescuers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/whale-sharks-released-from-nets-along-indias-coast-as-fishers-turn-rescuers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/whale-sharks-released-from-nets-along-indias-coast-as-fishers-turn-rescuers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Feb 2026 15:37:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[K.A. Shaji]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/04121705/whale-shark-whale-shark-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313709</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indian Ocean, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, NGOs, Oceans, Sharks, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a March morning in the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala state’s capital in southern India, a group of fishers were hauling their kambavala — a traditional net fixed between bamboo poles driven into the seabed. The net caught something immense. The fishers saw a dark, speckled shadow thrashing within the mesh. As they drew closer, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a March morning in the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala state’s capital in southern India, a group of fishers were hauling their kambavala — a traditional net fixed between bamboo poles driven into the seabed. The net caught something immense. The fishers saw a dark, speckled shadow thrashing within the mesh. As they drew closer, they saw the white-dotted back and cavernous mouth of a whale shark, the world’s largest fish, trapped in the bamboo frame and nylon webbing. They hesitated for a moment: A torn net could mean the loss of a month’s income for small-scale fishers. However, saving the net would mean killing the animal. On the shore stood Ajit Shanghumukhom, a fisher community representative and a volunteer trained by the nonprofit Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). He made the call: “We can’t let it die,” he said. For half an hour, the fishers worked with knives and ropes, cutting the net section by section. The water frothed as the whale shark struggled. When it finally slipped free, the beach fell silent. The fishing net floated like a wound on the water, but the men smiled. They had lost their income but gained something greater — the feeling that the sea itself had been restored. The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is the world’s largest fish, once caught and slaughtered rampantly along India’s coast for its liver oil and meat. Image courtesy of the Wildlife Trust of India. Fishers turn rescuers Two decades ago, India’s west coast told a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/whale-sharks-released-from-nets-along-indias-coast-as-fishers-turn-rescuers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/whale-sharks-released-from-nets-along-indias-coast-as-fishers-turn-rescuers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313709</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nickel mining damage near UNESCO site stirs outrage in southern Philippines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-damage-near-unesco-site-stirs-outrage-in-southern-philippines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-damage-near-unesco-site-stirs-outrage-in-southern-philippines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Oct 2025 22:21:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bong S. Sarmiento]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/23043732/pujada-nickel-project-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Dugong, Environment, Forests, Habitat Loss, Mining, Mountains, Protected Areas, Rivers, Roads, Sea Turtles, Water, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MINDANAO, Philippines — A nickel mining project in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao is facing renewed calls for closure after a recent government inspection revealed that strip mining there has stripped bare about 200 hectares (494 acres) of forest land in an ecologically sensitive area. The Pujada Nickel Project, in the province of Davao [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MINDANAO, Philippines — A nickel mining project in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao is facing renewed calls for closure after a recent government inspection revealed that strip mining there has stripped bare about 200 hectares (494 acres) of forest land in an ecologically sensitive area. The Pujada Nickel Project, in the province of Davao Oriental, stands about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage site and ASEAN Heritage Park. It also sits 7 km (4.3 mi) upstream from Pujada Bay, a nationally protected seascape into which several rivers and creeks within the Mount Hamiguitan sanctuary drain, including waterways affected by the mining venture. The Pujada mine is operated by Hallmark Mining Corporation and Austral-Asia Link Mining Corporation under the management of Asiaticus Management Corporation, which are all controlled by Filipino mining investor Pedro O. Tan and his family. Part of a 2004 action plan to revitalize the nation’s mining industry, the project was awarded a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement in the same year and began commercial shipments in 2016. Due to its proximity to two protected areas and the anticipated environmental damage associated with large-scale mining, the project has faced opposition for more than a decade from the community-based Macambol Multi-Sectoral Association for Integral Development, the regional environmental group Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) and the Catholic Diocese of Mati. The Pujada Nickel Mining Project leaves a brown swathe of deforested land, sandwiched between the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-damage-near-unesco-site-stirs-outrage-in-southern-philippines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study spotlights West Papua habitat as whale sharks face increased pressures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/study-spotlights-west-papua-habitat-as-whale-sharks-face-increased-pressures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/study-spotlights-west-papua-habitat-as-whale-sharks-face-increased-pressures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2025 06:07:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/26085143/ws_Edy-Setyawan_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306620</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Megafauna, Oceans, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study reports that the Bird’s Head Seascape off Indonesia’s West Papua serves as a vital habitat for juvenile male whale sharks, but lift-net fisheries, tourism boats and emerging mining activities in the region underscore the urgent need for stronger protection and management. The population demographics of the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) within the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study reports that the Bird’s Head Seascape off Indonesia’s West Papua serves as a vital habitat for juvenile male whale sharks, but lift-net fisheries, tourism boats and emerging mining activities in the region underscore the urgent need for stronger protection and management. The population demographics of the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) within the four key BHS regions (Cendrawasih Bay, Kaimana, Raja Ampat, and Fakfak) showed a dominance of juvenile males that use these habitats as nursery or foraging grounds and reducing predation risk while growing, according to the research published Aug. 28 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. The international group of researchers also found that more than half of the whale sharks in the study had injuries from preventable human causes. “The scars and wounds we see on whale sharks are like a diary of their encounters with people,” Edy Setyawan, lead conservation scientist at the Elasmobranch Institute Indonesia who is the lead author of the paper, told Mongabay in an email. The Bird’s Head Seascape is a vital nursery for juvenile male whale sharks. Image courtesy of Edy Setyawan. Most whale shark sightings occurred in Cenderawasih Bay and Kaimana. Image courtesy of Edy Setyawan. From 2010-23, the researchers tracked 268 whale sharks across the BHS — a region hosting a network of 26 marine protected areas and a hotspot for marine megafauna and tropical marine biodiversity — using photos from scientists and citizen divers. Nearly all sightings were in Cenderawasih Bay and Kaimana, where the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/study-spotlights-west-papua-habitat-as-whale-sharks-face-increased-pressures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306620</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Whale shark hotspot discovered along the Great Barrier Reef</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/whale-shark-hotspot-discovered-along-the-great-barrier-reef/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/whale-shark-hotspot-discovered-along-the-great-barrier-reef/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2025 16:45:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/19110910/6-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304501</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Great Barrier Reef, Pacific Ocean, and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bycatch, Climate Change, Conservation, data, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Pollution, Research, Saltwater Fish, and Whale Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The whale shark — a shark, not a whale — is the largest fish in the world, roughly the length of a city bus. Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), which live in warm seas, are known as majestic creatures. They’re covered in a mosaic of dots and stripes — groups of whale sharks are unofficially known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The whale shark — a shark, not a whale — is the largest fish in the world, roughly the length of a city bus. Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), which live in warm seas, are known as majestic creatures. They’re covered in a mosaic of dots and stripes — groups of whale sharks are unofficially known as constellations because of these “stars” on their back — and they glide through the water, seemingly unrushed, collecting food in their huge mouths. Part of their allure is their rareness: Finding and studying them is hard. They’re largely solitary creatures that roam great distances. Yet they do occasionally aggregate. There are about 30 known aggregation sites worldwide, mostly seasonal, and scientists have finally identified one along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, a new study reveals. The study, published June 24 in the journal Ecology and Evolution, unveils a consistent seasonal gathering point for whale sharks, mostly juvenile males, in Wreck Bay, along the northern portion of the Great Barrier Reef. It’s the first known aggregation found in eastern Australia and in the entire southwest Pacific Ocean. Whale sharks in the region have been inadequately studied, so Wreck Bay could become a crucial research location, the study’s authors write. Globally, whale sharks are endangered and populations are declining. “It&#8217;s going to be quite significant for regional and global population assessments and conservation management,” Ingo Miller, a researcher at Australia-based Biopixel Oceans Foundation and first author of the study, told Mongabay. Ingo Miller puts a camera on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/whale-shark-hotspot-discovered-along-the-great-barrier-reef/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/whale-shark-hotspot-discovered-along-the-great-barrier-reef/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304501</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cruise ships and intensified tourism in Mexico threaten whale shark habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/cruise-ships-and-intensified-tourism-in-mexico-threaten-whale-shark-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/cruise-ships-and-intensified-tourism-in-mexico-threaten-whale-shark-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2025 08:47:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/13083856/MG_9822-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298992</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Sharks, Tourism, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a dozen mega cruise ships were stationed in Bahía de La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, due to the tourism shutdown. This led to pollution of the ecosystem and the displacement of marine species such as the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), which was not seen again [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a dozen mega cruise ships were stationed in Bahía de La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, due to the tourism shutdown. This led to pollution of the ecosystem and the displacement of marine species such as the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), which was not seen again in the area until 2022. A new port agreement with a tourism company could see this situation repeat. Environmental organizations are urging the government of the northwestern Mexican state to cancel this agreement, originally made in 2021 between the government-owned Integral Port Administration of Baja California Sur (API BCS in Spanish) and the private company Aquamayan Adventure. The agreement gives the company control over part of the port of Pichilingue in La Paz and allows mega cruise ships to enter Bahía de La Paz, or the bay of La Paz, the capital city of Baja California Sur. Cruise ships anchored in Bahía de La Paz, where concerns have been raised about marine and air pollution caused by the presence of a thermal power station, automobile traffic and the engines of the ships. Image courtesy of BCSicletos. The agreement, which was shelved at the time due to non-compliance with environmental regulations, was resuscitated and modified late last year, and now authorizes the private company to use 33,500 square meters (360,600 square feet) of the port, where it plans to build a tourism and commercial complex featuring restaurants, shops, recreational areas and even a desalinization plant. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/cruise-ships-and-intensified-tourism-in-mexico-threaten-whale-shark-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/cruise-ships-and-intensified-tourism-in-mexico-threaten-whale-shark-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298992</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Summit on migratory species sides with science, throws shade on deep-sea mining</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/summit-on-migratory-species-sides-with-science-throws-shade-on-deep-sea-mining/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/summit-on-migratory-species-sides-with-science-throws-shade-on-deep-sea-mining/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Feb 2024 15:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/23134407/OceanImageBank_CinziaOseleBismarck_26-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279144</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Global Environmental Crisis, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Saving Species From Extinction, Sharks, Solutions, Species, and Whale Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Migratory species that travel long distances in the ocean, including sharks, turtles and dolphins, face an unprecedented number of threats resulting from human actions. At the latest assembly of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), representatives of governments made a series of decisions aimed at protecting migratory marine species, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Migratory species that travel long distances in the ocean, including sharks, turtles and dolphins, face an unprecedented number of threats resulting from human actions. At the latest assembly of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), representatives of governments made a series of decisions aimed at protecting migratory marine species, as well as their terrestrial, avian and freshwater counterparts. However, experts say more action needs to be urgently taken to stop their slide toward extinction. The CMS treaty was created more than 40 years ago to conserve migratory species and their habitats on a global scale. Since then, representatives from the treaty’s 133 member states have met regularly to discuss actions to protect the species on Earth that regularly traverse national and international boundaries. The 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP14) took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Feb. 12-17. During the assembly, parties agreed upon a number of measures to protect migratory species threatened with extinction. They added several new species to the convention’s appendices and made decisions to address the present and future threats to these species, such as the impacts of climate change and the prospect of deep-sea mining. At the outset of the meeting, the CMS released a landmark report that found that populations of almost half of the nearly 1,200 species listed in the convention are declining, and that one in five are threatened with extinction. Research shows that fish are faring the worst, with nearly every fish species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/summit-on-migratory-species-sides-with-science-throws-shade-on-deep-sea-mining/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/summit-on-migratory-species-sides-with-science-throws-shade-on-deep-sea-mining/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279144</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Indonesia, &#8216;opportunistic&#8217; whale shark fishery shows gap in species protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/indonesia-whale-shark-fishing-protected-species-endangered/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/indonesia-whale-shark-fishing-protected-species-endangered/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Sep 2023 04:19:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/30040339/Paus-Terdampar-Dimakan-Cianjur1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273190</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fisheries, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Whale Sharks, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In early September, a whale shark washed up on a beach in the Indonesian province of West Java. Within hours, locals had chopped up the 7-meter (23-foot) fish for its meat and bones, considered a rare delicacy in Indonesia. Yet eating a whale shark, even one found dead as in this case, has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In early September, a whale shark washed up on a beach in the Indonesian province of West Java. Within hours, locals had chopped up the 7-meter (23-foot) fish for its meat and bones, considered a rare delicacy in Indonesia. Yet eating a whale shark, even one found dead as in this case, has been illegal in the country since 2013, when Indonesia banned the capture, trade and exploitation of the species, Rhincodon typus. But records from 2002 to 2022 show that whale sharks continued to be butchered and sold along the southeastern coast of the island of Java, either after stranding or being caught unintentionally by fishers, according to a study published Aug. 17 in the journal Animals. “As far as I know there is indeed no targeted fishing, in the sense that I have no evidence that at any given day a crew goes out specifically to find and catch a whale shark,” study author Vincent Nijman, a professor of anthropology at Oxford Brookes University, U.K., told Mongabay in an email interview. “I do not think this would be economically viable anyway.” Whale sharks landed at Pangandaran Bay. Images courtesy of Vincent Nijman. For his study, Nijman collected 58 reports of whale shark landings that he both observed in person and found on the news, along Pangandaran Bay, which stretches 40 kilometers (25 miles) along the Indian Ocean coast. The region is an important habitat for a population of whale sharks. While some of the beached whale&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/indonesia-whale-shark-fishing-protected-species-endangered/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/indonesia-whale-shark-fishing-protected-species-endangered/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273190</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Uterine implants and underwater ultrasounds aim to demystify shark births</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/uterine-implants-and-underwater-ultrasounds-aim-to-demystify-shark-births/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/uterine-implants-and-underwater-ultrasounds-aim-to-demystify-shark-births/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2023 11:22:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/07105208/A-researcher-taking-ultrasound-reading-from-a-whale-shark.-Photo-by-Simon-Pierce.-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267307</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Research, Science, Sharks, Technology, Tracking, Whale Sharks, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At first glance, the device resembles an egg-shaped game. But the birth-alert-tag is anything but a toy. Inside, it holds technology that collects data aimed at informing conservation strategies for sharks, among the most vulnerable vertebrates on Earth. The birth-alert-tag (BAT) is a first-of-its-kind device designed to be implanted in the uterus of pregnant sharks. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At first glance, the device resembles an egg-shaped game. But the birth-alert-tag is anything but a toy. Inside, it holds technology that collects data aimed at informing conservation strategies for sharks, among the most vulnerable vertebrates on Earth. The birth-alert-tag (BAT) is a first-of-its-kind device designed to be implanted in the uterus of pregnant sharks. The mother shark ejects the device along with her babies when she gives birth; satellite technology enables it to alert researchers about the location and time of the births. A study published in March 2023 in the journal Science Advances showed the BAT works after the researchers who developed it deployed it successfully in two female sharks. “Discovering where sharks give birth is our holy grail,” James Sulikowski, a co-author of the study and associate director of the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences at Arizona State University, told Mongabay in a video interview. “It’s crucial information that has eluded us for so long.” Sulikowski developed the BAT along with Neil Hammerschlag, director of the Shark Research and Conservation Program at the University of Miami. The birth-alert-tag (BAT) is an egg-shaped device that can help document the location and timing of shark births. Image courtesy of James Sulikowski. Pregnancy and infancy are animals’ most vulnerable life stages, so accurately identifying where pregnant mothers and newborns spend their time, and when, is imperative to protecting them from harmful human activities. Scientists have long used tags that implant in either the uterus or the vagina to document&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/uterine-implants-and-underwater-ultrasounds-aim-to-demystify-shark-births/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/uterine-implants-and-underwater-ultrasounds-aim-to-demystify-shark-births/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267307</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ecuador to announce creation of Hermandad Marine Reserve off Galapagos (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/ecuador-to-announce-creation-of-hermandad-marine-reserve-off-galapagos-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/ecuador-to-announce-creation-of-hermandad-marine-reserve-off-galapagos-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jan 2022 18:28:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[President Guillermo Lasso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/01102852/VSridharan_GujaratWhaleShark_4_Big-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251716</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Costa Rica, Ecuador, Galapagos, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Elasmobranchs, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Sharks, Whale Sharks, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;Ecuador is proud to announce the creation of the Hermandad Marine Reserve in the coming days,&#8221; the country&#8217;s president declares in an opinion piece shared with Mongabay. His country had initially announced the expansion of the marine reserve encircling the Galápagos Islands in November at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. The following day, the presidents [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;Ecuador is proud to announce the creation of the Hermandad Marine Reserve in the coming days,&#8221; the country&#8217;s president declares in an opinion piece shared with Mongabay. His country had initially announced the expansion of the marine reserve encircling the Galápagos Islands in November at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. The following day, the presidents of Panama, Colombia and Costa Rica also joined him to announce that their countries intended to create a large marine corridor between the four nations by extending and joining their current marine protected areas. Here&#8217;s President Lasso&#8217;s commentary about this news shared with Mongabay: Stretching up to 60 feet long, whale sharks are the world&#8217;s largest fish. These endangered, gentle giants slowly glide over vast distances throughout the tropics, feeding on some of the ocean&#8217;s tiniest creatures like plankton, krill, and shrimp. Two years ago, scientists tagged a 10-foot juvenile female near the Galapagos and named her Esperanza – the Spanish word for &#8220;hope.&#8221; Over the following eight months, the researchers continuously tracked her travels until they lost her signal, just as her course intersected with a foreign fleet fishing on the border of Ecuador&#8217;s protected waters. There’s no way to be certain about what happened to Esperanza, but her story still serves as a stark reminder that safeguarding marine wildlife solely where it gathers is not enough. Highly migratory species, such as sea turtles, hammer­head sharks, humpback whales, and whale sharks also need protection along the underwater superhighways that they travel along routinely. A&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/ecuador-to-announce-creation-of-hermandad-marine-reserve-off-galapagos-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/ecuador-to-announce-creation-of-hermandad-marine-reserve-off-galapagos-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251716</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Beached whale shark in Indonesia reportedly cut up by locals to eat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/beached-whale-shark-in-indonesia-reportedly-cut-up-by-locals-to-eat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/beached-whale-shark-in-indonesia-reportedly-cut-up-by-locals-to-eat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2021 11:05:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/06/16155501/A-WHALE-SHARK-FEEDING-RINCHODON-TYPUS-LISTED-AS-ENDANGERED-ON-THE-IUCN-RED-LIST_IMAGE-DUDAREV-MIKHAIL-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=247686</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fisheries, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Whale Sharks, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservation authorities in Indonesia have condemned a recent incident in which a beached whale shark was cut up and reportedly consumed by locals on the western coast of the island of Java. The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) was found dead by residents living near Cirarangan Sindangbarang Beach in West Java province on the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservation authorities in Indonesia have condemned a recent incident in which a beached whale shark was cut up and reportedly consumed by locals on the western coast of the island of Java. The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) was found dead by residents living near Cirarangan Sindangbarang Beach in West Java province on the morning of Sept. 26. When officials arrived after having received a report of the stranding, they found that the animal had already been cut up into small pieces, some of which were said to have been eaten by the locals. It was estimated at between 4-6 meters long (13-20 feet) and weighing up to 2 metric ton, indicating it was most likely a juvenile shark. Whale sharks are fully protected under Indonesian law, and even consuming one that is already dead is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and 100 million rupiah ($7,000) in fines. “Any kinds of use with extractive nature of whale sharks, including the use of their body parts, are banned by the law,” Pamuji Lestari, the acting director-general of marine zoning at the fisheries ministry, said in a statement published Sep. 28. People cut up the beached whale shark in West Java, Indonesia. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. People retrieve the beached whale shark from shore in West Java, Indonesia. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. The incident in West Java mirrors an occurrence in May&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/beached-whale-shark-in-indonesia-reportedly-cut-up-by-locals-to-eat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/beached-whale-shark-in-indonesia-reportedly-cut-up-by-locals-to-eat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-247686</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sharks on a knife’s edge as Maldives mulls lifting 10-year fishing ban</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/sharks-on-a-knifes-edge-as-maldives-mulls-lifting-10-year-fishing-ban/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/sharks-on-a-knifes-edge-as-maldives-mulls-lifting-10-year-fishing-ban/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Apr 2021 15:22:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/16142605/Spinner-shark_Koddoo-Maldives_2020_Simon-Hilbourne-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241673</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indian Ocean and Maldives]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, and Whale Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[UPDATE 21/04/2021: The Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources, and Agriculture released a statement today, saying it does not intend to open a targeted shark fishery. It also clarified that Minister Zaha Waheed&#8217;s comments were part of an internal discussion about reinstating a long-line fishery for bigeye tuna and potential shark bycatch for that fishery. It’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[UPDATE 21/04/2021: The Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources, and Agriculture released a statement today, saying it does not intend to open a targeted shark fishery. It also clarified that Minister Zaha Waheed&#8217;s comments were part of an internal discussion about reinstating a long-line fishery for bigeye tuna and potential shark bycatch for that fishery. It’s not easy to find sharks these days. Just ask Demian Chapman, a marine scientist who leads Global FinPrint, a project that assesses shark populations on reefs worldwide. But he says there is a spot where they’re often found: the Maldives, a tiny nation of islands speckled in the Indian Ocean. “The Maldives is a place where we drop cameras, and we see sharks frequently, which really is very unusual,” Chapman told Mongabay in an interview. “You know, most places we drop cameras and see nothing [or] one shark or two sharks, but then the Maldives is pretty consistent.” Sharks are plentiful in the Maldives thanks to a 90,000-square-kilometer (34,750-square-mile) shark sanctuary — that’s about three times as big as Belgium — set up in 2010 with a blanket ban on shark fishing and finning. But conservationists say these advances are now under threat as the Maldivian government considers lifting its 11-year shark-fishing ban. Grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) at the Ari Atoll in the Maldives. Image by Guy Stevens / Manta Trust. In a parliamentary committee discussion in late March, fisheries minister Zaha Waheed said talks were underway to open a managed shark fishery, which would help boost&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/sharks-on-a-knifes-edge-as-maldives-mulls-lifting-10-year-fishing-ban/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/sharks-on-a-knifes-edge-as-maldives-mulls-lifting-10-year-fishing-ban/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241673</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From penguins to sharks to whales, swimming in circles is a surprisingly common trait</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/from-penguins-to-sharks-to-whales-swimming-in-circles-is-a-surprisingly-common-trait/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/from-penguins-to-sharks-to-whales-swimming-in-circles-is-a-surprisingly-common-trait/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2021 04:49:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/25081743/6018836251_9f027692b5_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=240907</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica, Hawaii, Indian Ocean, Japan, Pacific Ocean, and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Megafauna, Saltwater Fish, Science, Sea Turtles, Sharks, Turtles, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Many marine megafauna share a similar behavior of swimming in circles, often when in search of food, but also while engaged in a range of other activities, according to a recently published paper. Green sea turtles, sharks, penguins, and marine mammals tend to circle consecutively at a relatively constant speed more than twice, according to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Many marine megafauna share a similar behavior of swimming in circles, often when in search of food, but also while engaged in a range of other activities, according to a recently published paper. Green sea turtles, sharks, penguins, and marine mammals tend to circle consecutively at a relatively constant speed more than twice, according to the study published March 18 by a group of researchers from Japan, Italy, France and the U.S. in the journal iScience. “We have been studying behaviours and ecology of marine megafauna. But there are still lots of mysteries,” lead author Tomoko Narazaki, a marine scientist from the University of Tokyo, wrote in an email to Mongabay. All these marine animals share a similar behavior of swimming in circles. Image courtesy of Takashi Iwata, Shiomi Kozue, Kagari Aoki, Mark Royer and Tomoko Narazaki. The researchers found that some of the animals, which were fitted with movement trackers, would swim in circles during different activities, such as foraging, courtship, navigation and even possibly geomagnetic observations. They noted that the behavior was surprising in part because swimming in a straight line was considered to be the most efficient way to move about. The paper said that while circling behavior occurred primarily during active swimming, some circling might occur passively, as observed in northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), which would fall in a spiral manner during inactive drift phases of resting dives. Potential explanations for circling behavior discussed in the paper are not mutually exclusive, the authors note. They&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/from-penguins-to-sharks-to-whales-swimming-in-circles-is-a-surprisingly-common-trait/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/from-penguins-to-sharks-to-whales-swimming-in-circles-is-a-surprisingly-common-trait/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-240907</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mug shots and public pics join the dots of whale sharks’ Southeast Asian trips</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/mug-shots-and-public-pics-join-the-dots-of-whale-sharks-southeast-asian-trips/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/mug-shots-and-public-pics-join-the-dots-of-whale-sharks-southeast-asian-trips/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2020 21:54:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Leilani]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/28211805/whale-shark-lamave-resaerch-philippines-credit-brian-tracey-lamave-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=230817</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Ecosystems, Fish, Fisheries, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, Technology, Tracking, Whale Sharks, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Whale sharks, the largest fish in the sea, are a fascinating and mysterious lot. Growing as big as 10 meters (33 feet) in length and diving as deep as 1,000 meters (3,300 feet), these gentle creatures normally dine on plankton and small fish. Their pupping and reproductive behaviors remain a persistent curiosity among [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Whale sharks, the largest fish in the sea, are a fascinating and mysterious lot. Growing as big as 10 meters (33 feet) in length and diving as deep as 1,000 meters (3,300 feet), these gentle creatures normally dine on plankton and small fish. Their pupping and reproductive behaviors remain a persistent curiosity among marine biologists, who have tapped new techniques to better understand their migration patterns and behavior. In a new study, biologists used photographic identification and satellite telemetry techniques, combined with citizen science, to record the first inter-country movement of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) in Southeast Asia. Whale sharks crossing marine borders aren’t uncommon since these filter feeders are highly mobile, but studies that capture these journeys in the region are scant. The study, published in Scientific Reports last November, recorded whale sharks returning to Honda Bay, a key biodiverse marine area in the province of Palawan in the southwestern Philippines, after being spotted in the seascapes of Indonesia and Malaysia. “This study has revealed the first confirmed international return of whale sharks in Asia with a shark tagged in Honda Bay, Palawan, in July 2017 and tracked to Lahad Datu, Malaysia, returning to Honda Bay less than one year later in May 2018,” Ariana Agustines, one of the authors of the study and project leader for the Large Marine Vertebrates Project (LAMAVE), told Mongabay. Philippine waters have the second-largest whale shark population in the world after Mexico’s, and Honda Bay is the No. 2 site in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/mug-shots-and-public-pics-join-the-dots-of-whale-sharks-southeast-asian-trips/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-230817</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New species of shrimp-like creature found in a whale shark’s mouth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/new-species-of-shrimp-like-creature-found-in-a-whale-sharks-mouth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/new-species-of-shrimp-like-creature-found-in-a-whale-sharks-mouth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2019 12:48:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/31090024/podocerusjin-768x480.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=223985</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Japan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Fish, Research, Species Discovery, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2017, Japanese scientists found hundreds of shrimp-like creatures in an unusual place: on the gill rakers of a female whale shark, the world’s largest fish, living in a fish preserve off the island of Okinawa. The researchers scuba-dived in the preserve, then using a suction pump collected some of the crustaceans. Back in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2017, Japanese scientists found hundreds of shrimp-like creatures in an unusual place: on the gill rakers of a female whale shark, the world’s largest fish, living in a fish preserve off the island of Okinawa. The researchers scuba-dived in the preserve, then using a suction pump collected some of the crustaceans. Back in the lab, they examined the animals in detail and sequenced their DNA to confirm that the tiny creatures belong to a previously undescribed species of amphipod, a group of shell-less crustaceans that usually feed on decaying plant and animal matter, and that can be found in a wide variety of environments, from freshwater to some of the deepest parts of the ocean. The researchers, who have described the amphipod in a new study published in the journal Species Diversity, have named it Podocerus jinbe after the Japanese word jinbe for whale sharks. Amphipods can often be seen on a variety of invertebrates, or animals without a backbone. But they’re not as commonly associated with vertebrates, the researchers write, although the animals have been recorded from the surface of fish, some sea turtles and marine mammals. This study presents the first time an amphipod species has been documented in a whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the researchers say. “This creature, which is usually 3-5 centimetres long, is amazing because they can live in so many different kinds of environment,” Ko Tomikawa, lead author of the study and an associate professor at Hiroshima University, told Agence-France Presse. “But I&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/new-species-of-shrimp-like-creature-found-in-a-whale-sharks-mouth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/new-species-of-shrimp-like-creature-found-in-a-whale-sharks-mouth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-223985</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Education, compensation, and spiritual outreach protect threatened whale sharks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/education-compensation-and-spiritual-outreach-protect-threatened-whale-sharks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/education-compensation-and-spiritual-outreach-protect-threatened-whale-sharks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2019 09:30:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tariq Engineer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/12121548/Community-event-in-Porbandar-2016-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=223402</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Corporate Social Responsibility, Education, Endangered Species, Fishing, Oceans, Sharks, Solutions, and Whale Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[CSK2019]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the 1980s and 1990s, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) were being slaughtered by the hundreds in the waters off the coast of Gujarat, a state in western India famous for being the last refuge of the Asiatic Lion. While the lions were protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972, the whale sharks were [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the 1980s and 1990s, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) were being slaughtered by the hundreds in the waters off the coast of Gujarat, a state in western India famous for being the last refuge of the Asiatic Lion. While the lions were protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972, the whale sharks were not. A whale shark from the Indian Ocean. Image by Abe Khao Lak, CC 4.0. Demand for the shark’s fins and meat in south-east Asia drove a roaring export trade. According to one study published in 2000 in the journal Current Science, over 1,700 whale sharks were killed between 1988 and 1998.  A further 600 were killed between 1999 and 2000, according to another study by WWF-India published in 2001. A single whale shark could earn a fisherman anywhere from $2,500 to $7,000, depending on its size. “It was happening because of greed,” Tulsibhai Gohel (bhai is an honorific that shows respect), the 42-year-old president of the Sagar Putra Foundation, a local fisherman’s association, told Mongabay. “We were getting so much money, it was impossible not to kill them.” In 2000, a documentary by Mike Pandey called Shores of Silence, which included footage of men cutting off a whale shark’s dorsal fin while the fish was still alive, drew widespread attention to the plight of these gentle giants. The government was lobbied and a year later the fish was added to Schedule 1 of the WPA, giving it the highest legal protection in India. Awareness&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/education-compensation-and-spiritual-outreach-protect-threatened-whale-sharks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/education-compensation-and-spiritual-outreach-protect-threatened-whale-sharks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-223402</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Thousands of sharks and rays are likely entangled in plastic polluting Earth’s oceans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/scientists-say-thousands-of-sharks-and-rays-are-likely-entangled-in-plastic-polluting-earths-oceans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/scientists-say-thousands-of-sharks-and-rays-are-likely-entangled-in-plastic-polluting-earths-oceans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2019 14:40:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/16142504/shark-entangled-in-plastic_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=220496</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Global, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Elasmobranchs, Environment, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Plastic, Pollution, Rays, Research, Sharks, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New research finds that thousands of sharks and rays could be entangled in the plastic polluting Earth’s oceans. Scientists at the UK’s University of Exeter examined existing scientific literature and took to Twitter to find documented instances of shark and ray entanglements. They ended up finding reports of more than 1,000 entangled animals — and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[New research finds that thousands of sharks and rays could be entangled in the plastic polluting Earth’s oceans. Scientists at the UK’s University of Exeter examined existing scientific literature and took to Twitter to find documented instances of shark and ray entanglements. They ended up finding reports of more than 1,000 entangled animals — and they say the actual number of sharks and rays snarled in plastic is likely to be far higher, as there have been few studies that focused specifically on the issue. According to the study, published in the journal Endangered Species Research this month, the researchers’ literature review discovered documentation of 557 animals from 34 different species that had become ensnared in plastic waste. Close to 60 percent of the animals were lesser spotted dogfish, spotted ratfish, or spiny dogfish. These entanglements occurred across all three major ocean basins, but the vast majority of cases were in either the Pacific (49 percent) or the Atlantic (46 percent) oceans. Some 44 percent of the entanglements occurred in the waters of the USA, while 30 percent were found in UK waters, and 10 percent were found in South Africa’s waters. “The most common entangling objects were ghost fishing gear (74% of animals) followed by polypropylene strapping bands (11% of animals), with other entangling materials such as circular plastic debris, polythene bags and rubber tyres comprising 1% of total entangled animals,” the authors write in the study. The researcher’s Twitter investigation, meanwhile, uncovered another 74 cases of entanglement involving&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/scientists-say-thousands-of-sharks-and-rays-are-likely-entangled-in-plastic-polluting-earths-oceans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/scientists-say-thousands-of-sharks-and-rays-are-likely-entangled-in-plastic-polluting-earths-oceans/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-220496</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What happens to an ecotourism town when the wildlife doesn’t show?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/what-happens-to-an-ecotourism-town-when-the-wildlife-doesnt-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/what-happens-to-an-ecotourism-town-when-the-wildlife-doesnt-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jun 2019 14:08:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nina Unlay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/28123425/8-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219935</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecotourism, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Migration, Oceans, Sharks, Tourism, Tracking, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2163-3717, 4127-1 SEA-ENV-SIDA]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DONSOL, Philippines — Omar Nepomuceno is looking for the whale sharks, as he has for over 20 years. Ask him what the odds are of finding one, and he’ll answer with “Swertehan”: a Filipino word for “a game of luck.” On the boat, it doesn’t present as luck, but as labor. He uses one forearm [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DONSOL, Philippines — Omar Nepomuceno is looking for the whale sharks, as he has for over 20 years. Ask him what the odds are of finding one, and he’ll answer with “Swertehan”: a Filipino word for “a game of luck.” On the boat, it doesn’t present as luck, but as labor. He uses one forearm to protect his eyes from the sun, the other to level his vision. He peers through the sliver of space in between like binoculars. The whites of his eyes have darkened over the years, likely from sun damage. As a butanding (whale shark) interaction officer with the local government, Nepomuceno’s job is to guide tourists and protect the sharks, so that they can swim together in Donsol, a coastal town on Luzon, the Philippines’ main island. Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are only observed here during certain months of the year. But “swertehan” is always Nepomuceno’s answer, even when the sightings in his hometown take steep falls, affecting his — and the entire community’s — income. According to records from the Philippine office of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines), sightings in Donsol fell from 1,790 in 2017 to 589 in 2018, a 68 percent drop. Whale sharks are highly mobile, so sightings tend to be erratic, but the discrepancies year on year (sometimes even month on month) have gotten increasingly unpredictable for Donsol, a town that in 1998 had more shark sightings than they could care to count. Omar Nepomuceno, a butanding (whale shark) interaction&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/what-happens-to-an-ecotourism-town-when-the-wildlife-doesnt-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219935</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mobile app encourages Indian fishers to free entangled whale sharks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/mobile-app-encourages-indian-fishers-to-free-entangled-whale-sharks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/mobile-app-encourages-indian-fishers-to-free-entangled-whale-sharks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 May 2019 10:38:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vasudevan Sridharan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/01102852/VSridharan_GujaratWhaleShark_4_Big-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=217974</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India, Indian Ocean, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Ecology, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Migration, Oceans, Over-hunting, Overfishing, Sharks, Technology, Whale Sharks, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2163-3717]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When fisherfolk in India’s westernmost state of Gujarat find a whale shark tangled in their fishing nets, it’s an unwelcome sight. They can’t legally harvest the protected species, yet the world’s biggest fish can wreak costly havoc on a net. To encourage fishers to spare whale sharks rather than haul them illegally to market, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When fisherfolk in India’s westernmost state of Gujarat find a whale shark tangled in their fishing nets, it’s an unwelcome sight. They can’t legally harvest the protected species, yet the world’s biggest fish can wreak costly havoc on a net. To encourage fishers to spare whale sharks rather than haul them illegally to market, the state offers them compensation. Until now, though, getting paid has entailed navigating a cumbersome bureaucracy and often prickly personal relationships with local authorities. In March, the Gujarat Forest Department launched a mobile app intended to dramatically simplify the existing compensation process. The app, called Vhali Watcher after the fish’s local name, is suitable for the low-end smartphones used by impoverished fisherfolks. It works offline too, so fishers can use it in open waters with limited internet. It enables the fishers to document their mercy for whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) by photographing their fortuitous catch and saving the data directly on government servers. The photographs are embedded with date and location data accurate up to 10 meters (32 feet). To minimize potential abuse, the app won’t upload images taken via other means, and photos snapped via the app are neither transferable nor storable. Fishers disentangle a whale shark accidentally caught in a fishing net. Image courtesy of Wildlife Trust of India. To compensate for damaged fishing gear, since 2007 the government has offered up to 25,000 rupees ($360) to anyone who voluntarily lets go of a whale shark by cutting their nets. But the procedure for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/mobile-app-encourages-indian-fishers-to-free-entangled-whale-sharks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/mobile-app-encourages-indian-fishers-to-free-entangled-whale-sharks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-217974</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>You’re gonna need a smaller boat: Media obscures shrinking ‘newsworthy’ fish</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/newsworthy-fish-of-some-species-are-smaller-than-they-used-to-be/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/newsworthy-fish-of-some-species-are-smaller-than-they-used-to-be/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Mar 2019 12:15:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/03/05093744/Male_whale_shark_at_Georgia_Aquarium.1d3bb0e381bd450ba265054aa7546812-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=216205</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Sharks, Shifting Baselines, Solutions, Water, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2163-3717]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Hyperbolic headlines can be like catnip for newspaper editors. So when a local fisher hauls in what looks like a record-breaking catch, it often makes news. But a recent study has found that the size of some these noteworthy fish has diminished over time, even as reporters continue to tag them with superlatives such as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Hyperbolic headlines can be like catnip for newspaper editors. So when a local fisher hauls in what looks like a record-breaking catch, it often makes news. But a recent study has found that the size of some these noteworthy fish has diminished over time, even as reporters continue to tag them with superlatives such as the “largest” and “mammoth.” “[T]he fact that the media use similar adjectives to describe fish that are increasingly small is worrisome because people’s opinions are often shaped by what they read in the media,” Isabelle Côté, the study’s senior author and a professor of marine ecology at Simon Fraser University in Canada, said in an email. An ocean sunfish (Mola mola), one of the species the researchers classified as a “charismatic” fish, at an aquarium in Denmark. Image by Per-Ola Norman (Public domain). Scientists have ample evidence that centuries of fishing in the world’s oceans has depleted stocks. And the fish that make it to market are also often smaller than those sold in the past. Côté said she started thinking about how well the media understood these changes when she noticed a photograph of a massive fish in an old newspaper. “[I]t made me wonder whether journalists were now using the same language to report on fish that were quite a bit smaller,” she said. That question set her and her colleagues to work scouring the English-language press as far back as the mid-1800s for mentions of catches of standout fish. They used terms such&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/newsworthy-fish-of-some-species-are-smaller-than-they-used-to-be/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/newsworthy-fish-of-some-species-are-smaller-than-they-used-to-be/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-216205</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar: Where young whale sharks party</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/madagascar-where-young-whale-sharks-party/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/madagascar-where-young-whale-sharks-party/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2018 07:04:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nora Ward]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/31064809/sahrk-768x425.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209894</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Whale sharks don’t need help being spectacular. The world’s biggest fish is impressive in nearly every aspect, growing as long as 12 meters (40 feet) and weighing up to 21 tons. Their enormous mouths contain thousands of teeth, and their backs feature constellations of white spots that make them look like gliding, underwater solar systems. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Whale sharks don’t need help being spectacular. The world’s biggest fish is impressive in nearly every aspect, growing as long as 12 meters (40 feet) and weighing up to 21 tons. Their enormous mouths contain thousands of teeth, and their backs feature constellations of white spots that make them look like gliding, underwater solar systems. As a result, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are known as marokintana in Madagascar, meaning “many stars.” But in addition to their beauty, whale shark spots have also proven vital to researchers. A new study in the journal Endangered Species Research used photo-identification techniques based on the sharks’ distinctive spots to discover a new hotspot for juvenile whale sharks around the tiny island of Nosy Be, in northwest Madagascar. &#8220;No one thought there were that many [whale] sharks,” Stella Diamant, lead author of the study and founder of the Madagascar Whale Shark Project, told the BBC. This is a rare bit of good news for a species that, like many other sharks, is struggling to survive in oceans increasingly subject to the negative impacts of human activity. The IUCN Red List categorizes whale sharks as endangered, with experts reporting a 63 percent decline in the species’ population over the last 75 years in the Indian and Pacific oceans. The main threats to whale sharks include overfishing, boat collisions and death as bycatch. Teenage stag party The study identified 85 whale sharks in one season in 2016, from September to December, off Nosy Be. Diamant says that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/madagascar-where-young-whale-sharks-party/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/madagascar-where-young-whale-sharks-party/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209894</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tracking tools identify regional hubs of whale shark activity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/tracking-tools-identify-regional-hubs-of-whale-shark-activity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/tracking-tools-identify-regional-hubs-of-whale-shark-activity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Aug 2018 09:38:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/16080857/GAraujo_WS_sat_tag_DSC07487_banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209407</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indian Ocean and Philippines]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Citizen Science, data, Monitoring, Oceans, Remote Sensing, Research, Technology, Tracking, Whale Sharks, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Where do the biggest fish in the sea go to find enough food? Turns out, not too far, if they live in a region with lots of food. Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) swim about 25 kilometers (15 miles) per day and can make some tremendous long-distance oceanic movements. Scientists recently tracked a female whale shark [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Where do the biggest fish in the sea go to find enough food? Turns out, not too far, if they live in a region with lots of food. Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) swim about 25 kilometers (15 miles) per day and can make some tremendous long-distance oceanic movements. Scientists recently tracked a female whale shark from the eastern Pacific to the western Indo-Pacific for 20,142 kilometers (more than 12,000 miles) over 841 days, the longest whale shark migration route ever recorded. Juvenile sharks in a series of four studies, one in the Philippines and three in the western Indian Ocean, apparently prefer to swim laps around their favorite feeding grounds. A juvenile whale shark in the Philippines seen from above, with its tracking tag tethered to its dorsal fin. Image by Gonzalo Araujo/LAMAVE. Whale sharks are the world’s largest fish, growing up to 12 meters (40 feet) long and weighing up to 25 tons; even juveniles are 7 to 9 meters (23 to 30 feet) long. Scientists are keen to understand where these huge fish spend their time to better conserve them. Fishing activity threatens whale sharks through direct killing, capture as bycatch, and boat strikes. Half of the world’s whale shark population has been killed since the 1980s, primarily by fisheries in China, India, the Philippines and Taiwan, and Chinese fisheries still target whale sharks for their fins and meat. The rapid decline in whale sharks’ global population prompted the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/tracking-tools-identify-regional-hubs-of-whale-shark-activity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209407</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists say endangered whale sharks can live up to 130 years</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/scientists-say-endangered-whale-sharks-can-live-up-to-130-years/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/scientists-say-endangered-whale-sharks-can-live-up-to-130-years/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2018 13:59:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/15135126/Similan_Dive_Center_-_great_whale_shark_1200px-cropped-768x342.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209368</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Environment, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Sharks, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[We know very little about the growth and reproductive biology of whale sharks, the world’s largest fish species. Because they’re listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, scientists are looking for ways to fill this gap in our knowledge without overly disturbing or distressing individual whale sharks. Scientists at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[We know very little about the growth and reproductive biology of whale sharks, the world’s largest fish species. Because they’re listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, scientists are looking for ways to fill this gap in our knowledge without overly disturbing or distressing individual whale sharks. Scientists at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in the United States led a team of researchers who used minimally invasive methods for examining the growth patterns of whale sharks in the South Ari Atoll of the Maldives. The team repeatedly took measurements of free-swimming sharks over a 10-year period using three different approaches: visual, laser, and tape measures. They report in a paper published in the journal Marine &amp; Freshwater Research last month summarizing their results that, while visual estimates tended to underestimate the sizes of large sharks, laser and tape measurements yielded consistent results. The team was able to take repeated measurements of the same individual sharks, identified by their unique spot patterns, over the course of the study period because many of the sharks return to the South Ari Atoll every one to two years. The study was led by Cameron Perry, a graduate student at NSU when the research was carried out. &#8220;What makes this a novel approach is that we took repeated noninvasive underwater measurements of live sharks over the course of a decade,” Perry said in a statement. &#8220;Up to now, such aging and growth research has required obtaining vertebrae from dead whale sharks and counting growth rings,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/scientists-say-endangered-whale-sharks-can-live-up-to-130-years/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209368</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Biological passports’ show whale sharks travel less than we thought</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/biological-passports-show-whale-sharks-travel-less-than-we-thought/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/biological-passports-show-whale-sharks-travel-less-than-we-thought/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2018 08:50:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/13043838/Whale-shark-in-Tofo-Mozambique-Copyright-Clare-Prebble-Marine-Megafauna-Foundation-and-University-of-Southampton-3.428c58e45f0546989a715a1704c1c290-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209283</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indian Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bycatch, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Sharks, Tourism, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Whale sharks are capable long-distance swimmers, but it turns out that a lot of them are also homebodies. A new study published Aug. 9 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series that used chemical signatures found in whale shark tissue, combined with photographic identification, revealed that most members of the species, Rhincodon typus, don’t swim [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Whale sharks are capable long-distance swimmers, but it turns out that a lot of them are also homebodies. A new study published Aug. 9 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series that used chemical signatures found in whale shark tissue, combined with photographic identification, revealed that most members of the species, Rhincodon typus, don’t swim more than a few hundred kilometers from a specific feeding site, at least when they’re young. “Whale sharks are fully capable of swimming across oceans, but it seems like the juveniles, at least, are choosing not to,” Simon Pierce, a marine conservation biologist with the Marine Megafauna Foundation in California and one of the study’s authors, said in a statement. “They like coming back to the same sites each year to take advantage of predictable feeding opportunities.” A whale shark swimming off the coast of Mafia Island in Tanzania. Image © Clare Prebble/Marine Megafauna Foundation/University of Southampton. Lead author Clare Prebble, a marine biologist at the University of Southhampton in the U.K., said whale sharks could swim 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) or more each year. And studies on the genetic makeup of whale shark populations hint that some sharks, at least at some point in their lives, peel off from the known gatherings of hundreds of sharks around favorite feeding sites to mix with other populations. Thus far, though, scientists have struggled to use tags to track individuals over long distances or time periods. One team had a breakthrough earlier this year when it traced the movements of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/biological-passports-show-whale-sharks-travel-less-than-we-thought/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209283</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Longest recorded whale shark migration eclipses 20,000 kilometers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/longest-recorded-whale-shark-migration-eclipses-20000-kilometers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/longest-recorded-whale-shark-migration-eclipses-20000-kilometers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2018 06:30:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/05/14022357/Male_whale_shark_at_Georgia_Aquarium-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=206682</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central America, Pacific Ocean, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, data, Ecology, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Hunting, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Migration, Oceans, Over-hunting, Overfishing, Remote Sensing, Research, Sharks, Tracking, Whale Sharks, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A team of scientists has tracked a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) across more than 20,000 kilometers (over 12,000 miles) of ocean, the longest migration ever recorded for the species. In 2011, the researchers attached a transmitting tag to a shark they named “Anne” in the Pacific Ocean near Panama’s Coiba Island. Over the next 841 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A team of scientists has tracked a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) across more than 20,000 kilometers (over 12,000 miles) of ocean, the longest migration ever recorded for the species. Whale sharks are filter feeders, eating plankton, fish eggs, krill, crab larvae as well as small squid and fish that enter their large mouths. They cannot digest plastic garbage. Image by Kevan Mantell/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. In 2011, the researchers attached a transmitting tag to a shark they named “Anne” in the Pacific Ocean near Panama’s Coiba Island. Over the next 841 days, Anne’s transmitter would ping the ARGOS satellite whenever she swam near the surface. Those data points allowed the team to follow her movements south to the Galapagos Islands and clear across the Pacific to the Marianas Trench south of Japan and east of the Philippines — a distance of 20,142 kilometers (12,516 miles). They reported their findings in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records in April. The discovery solidifies the whale shark’s place among the ocean’s most widely traveled creatures, alongside leatherback sea turtles, gray whales and Arctic terns. Another whale shark tagged in 1995 held the previous record for the species with a 13,000-kilometer (8,100-mile) swim in 37 months. But beyond knowing that they’re capable of swimming vast distances — females can cover 67 kilometers (42 miles) in a single day — there’s still a lot to learn about whale sharks. “When I first began working on them, their taxonomy was debated, and it still wasn’t clear how&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/longest-recorded-whale-shark-migration-eclipses-20000-kilometers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-206682</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study reveals the Pacific Garbage Patch is much heftier than thought — and it’s growing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/study-reveals-that-the-pacific-garbage-patch-much-heftier-than-thought-and-its-growing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/study-reveals-that-the-pacific-garbage-patch-much-heftier-than-thought-and-its-growing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2018 09:37:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/03/25112053/Whale_Shark_1_AdF-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=205136</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Fish, Fishing, Microplastics, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, Research, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, Water, Water Pollution, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The great mass of castaway plastic collecting in the northern Pacific Ocean is much larger than past estimates, and it’s growing, according to a new study. As a species, we use and discard millions of tons of plastic each year, and a lot of it ends up in the ocean, where researchers estimate that it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The great mass of castaway plastic collecting in the northern Pacific Ocean is much larger than past estimates, and it’s growing, according to a new study. As a species, we use and discard millions of tons of plastic each year, and a lot of it ends up in the ocean, where researchers estimate that it kills or injures 100,000 marine animals each year. And while some of it gets broken up and sinks, scientists have found that gyres — swirling areas in the world’s oceans where circulating currents meet — collect a lot of this waste. A recent survey of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest of these collections, revealed that the aggregated plastic there weighs in at 79,000 metric tons (87,100 short tons). That’s between four and 16 times heavier than past estimates. As we continue to produce even more plastic, the patch is growing exponentially heavier by the year, according to measurements of its size over time. A map showing the location of the Pacific Gyre, the location of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Image by NOAA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. What’s more, most of the plastic, floating across an area larger than Mongolia at 1.6 million square kilometers (618,000 square miles), are pieces that are larger than 5 centimeters (2 inches) in length, and some 46 percent of the total mass is made up of old fishing nets. These “ghost nets” effectively become deadly floating traps for all kinds of sea life. “I knew there&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/study-reveals-that-the-pacific-garbage-patch-much-heftier-than-thought-and-its-growing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/study-reveals-that-the-pacific-garbage-patch-much-heftier-than-thought-and-its-growing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-205136</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Microplastic pollution in world’s oceans poses major threat to filter-feeding megafauna</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/microplastic-pollution-in-worlds-oceans-poses-major-threat-to-filter-feeding-megafauna/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/microplastic-pollution-in-worlds-oceans-poses-major-threat-to-filter-feeding-megafauna/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Mar 2018 11:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/03/22164408/Manta-with-plastic-in-Indonesia-Elitza-Germanov-Marine-Megafauna-Foundation-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=205060</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Elasmobranchs, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Microplastics, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, Sharks, Whale Sharks, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Even as the world is waking up to the problems created by the massive amounts of plastic pollution in Earth’s oceans — and taking steps to address the issue — new research is shedding light on how detrimental that pollution is to marine wildlife. A study published in the journal Trends in Ecology &#38; Evolution [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Even as the world is waking up to the problems created by the massive amounts of plastic pollution in Earth’s oceans — and taking steps to address the issue — new research is shedding light on how detrimental that pollution is to marine wildlife. A study published in the journal Trends in Ecology &amp; Evolution last month, for instance, looks at how filter-feeding marine animals like baleen whales, manta rays, and whale sharks are impacted by microplastics. Filter feeders face exceptionally high risks of exposure to plastic pollution in the oceans because many of them are found in some of the most polluted waters in the world, such as the Bay of Bengal, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Coral Triangle, a geographical region that lies in the waters between Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines. A 2016 report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation found that more than 8 million metric tons of plastic waste makes its way into the oceans every year, which works out to be roughly a garbage truck-full of plastic being dumped into the oceans every minute. What’s more, the report also determined that if we allow business-as-usual to continue, plastic pollution could find its way into our oceans at four times the current rate by 2050 — at which point the plastic in our oceans would weigh more than all of the fish combined. In response to this issue, more than 40 countries have joined the UN Environment Programme’s CleanSeas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/microplastic-pollution-in-worlds-oceans-poses-major-threat-to-filter-feeding-megafauna/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/microplastic-pollution-in-worlds-oceans-poses-major-threat-to-filter-feeding-megafauna/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-205060</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Record’ number of migratory species protected at October wildlife summit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/record-number-of-migratory-species-protected-at-october-wildlife-summit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/record-number-of-migratory-species-protected-at-october-wildlife-summit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2017 16:11:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/10/31155437/20160304-082609-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=200614</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat Loss, Leopards, Lions, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Migration, Oceans, Primates, Sharks, Whale Sharks, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Attendees at the world’s largest wildlife conference have called for stepping up protection for 34 migratory species, including giraffes, whale sharks and two of Africa’s big cats. “Migratory animals play a critical role in our planet’s ecosystem,” said Theresa Mundita Lim, director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau in the Philippines, in a statement at the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Attendees at the world’s largest wildlife conference have called for stepping up protection for 34 migratory species, including giraffes, whale sharks and two of Africa’s big cats. “Migratory animals play a critical role in our planet’s ecosystem,” said Theresa Mundita Lim, director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau in the Philippines, in a statement at the end of the recent summit in Manila of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) of Wild Animals. “They act as pollinators, control pests and are a source of food and income,” Lim added. A proposal to help protect a genetically isolated population of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Arabian Sea was adopted at the CMS summit. Photo by Whit Welles Wwelles14, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The CMS is sometimes referred to as the “Bonn Convention” after the German city where the agreement was signed in 1983. The latest meeting, held from Oct. 23 through 28, involved negotiations concerning species threatened with extinction, in some cases leading to the adoption of measures that require countries to halt the killing of those animals. Members of the convention also proposed and adopted measures aimed at boosting collaboration between nations within some species’ ranges. Bradnee Chambers, the executive secretary of the CMS, said in the statement that the summit “has broken all records” for attendance and the number of newly adopted proposals. The convention creates lists of animals, called appendices, based on negotiations that factor in trends affecting the conservation statuses of various species.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/record-number-of-migratory-species-protected-at-october-wildlife-summit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/record-number-of-migratory-species-protected-at-october-wildlife-summit/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-200614</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Whale sharks inch closer to extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/whale-sharks-inch-closer-to-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/whale-sharks-inch-closer-to-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jul 2016 16:15:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/07/01195829/Whale_shark_Georgia_aquarium-520x240.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=187677</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Sharks, and Whale Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world’s largest fish, the whale shark, is in deep trouble. According to the latest IUCN assessments, the school bus-sized fish has now been up-listed from Vulnerable to Endangered on the IUCN Red List. “It is alarming to see such emblematic species slide towards extinction,” Jane Smart, Director of IUCN&#8217;s Global Species Programme, said in a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world’s largest fish, the whale shark, is in deep trouble. According to the latest IUCN assessments, the school bus-sized fish has now been up-listed from Vulnerable to Endangered on the IUCN Red List. “It is alarming to see such emblematic species slide towards extinction,” Jane Smart, Director of IUCN&#8217;s Global Species Programme, said in a statement. “These new IUCN Red List assessments emphasise how urgent it is for the conservation community to act strategically to protect our planet’s incredible diversity of life. The world’s oceans and forests will only continue to provide us with food and other benefits if we preserve their capacity to do so.” Whale sharks have been up-listed to Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Photo by Zac Wolf, From Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5. Three-fourths of whale shark populations (Rhincodon typus) live in the Indo-Pacific, while the rest occur in the Atlantic. In the last 75 years, increasing threats due to habitat destruction, accidental entanglement in fishing nets, vessel collisions, and hunting for their meat, fins and oil, have caused numbers of these polka-dotted sharks to plummet by more than 50 percent, according to the assessment. “While international Whale Shark trade is regulated through the species’ listing on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), more needs to be done domestically to protect whale sharks at a national level,” Simon Pierce, lead Red List assessor, member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Shark Specialist Group, said in the statement. Winghead sharks have also&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/whale-sharks-inch-closer-to-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/whale-sharks-inch-closer-to-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-187677</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>5 Tech Projects That Are Protecting Sharks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/5-ways-technology-protecting-sharks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/5-ways-technology-protecting-sharks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jun 2016 15:20:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taylor Robb-McCord]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/01193358/whale-sharks_wt-497x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://wildtech-mongabay-com.mongabay.com/?p=185396</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Global, and Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Fish, Oceans, Technology, Whale Sharks, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Annually, approximately 100 million sharks are killed by commercial fisheries. Coupled with climate change and a decrease of food supply from overfishing, some shark populations are teetering on the edge of extinction. Bringing sharks into mainstream media, the brainchild of the Discovery Channel and the longest running cable TV program, Shark Week has aired every [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Annually, approximately 100 million sharks are killed by commercial fisheries. Coupled with climate change and a decrease of food supply from overfishing, some shark populations are teetering on the edge of extinction. Bringing sharks into mainstream media, the brainchild of the Discovery Channel and the longest running cable TV program, Shark Week has aired every summer since 1988; educating millions of viewers on the intricate and elusive nature of sharks. While we know that sharks, as top predators, play an important role in maintaining ocean and global health, scientists are still hot on their heels fins to learn more about their behavior and their vital role in ecosystem balance. In celebration and support of Shark Week 2016, we are excited to highlight five different organizations and technologies that are helping to protect shark species. 1. OCEARCH: Using tracking and non-tracking data, OCEARCH has created an open source database providing information on mature oceanic apex predators. Working together, fishermen and scientists bring sharks to the surface for 15 minutes for scientists to take blood and parasite samples, muscle biopsies, and body measurements, and to outfit the sharks with trackers for data collection. &nbsp; A map shows the location of tagged sharks. Photo credit: OCEARCH. &nbsp; 2. Clever Buoy &#8211; For the safety of sharks and surfers, Clever Buoy is being deployed at the popular J-Bay Open surf competition in South Africa. Clever Buoy is marketed as a non-invasive technology that uses sonar to detect a sharks distinct swimming movement. When the buoy detects a shark it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/5-ways-technology-protecting-sharks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-188426</doi>				</item>
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