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Aquatic Conservation - 2025 - Auditore - A 15‐Year Time Series Shows Major Declines in Whale Sharks in Southern Mozambique502.32 kB
Published VersionCC BY-NC V4.0, Open Access
Published VersionCC BY-NC V4.0, Open
Journal article
A 15-Year Time Series Shows Major Declines in Whale Sharks in Southern Mozambique
Aquatic Conservation, Vol.35(10), pp.1-16
2025
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
A 15-year dataset (2005–2019) of 706 photo-identified whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) off Praia do Tofo in Mozambique allowed us to assess the local abundance trend, and size- and sex-specific sighting and abundance trends, using both generalised additive models and capture–mark–recapture models. Overall sightings per day were partially explained by temporal (year, day of year) and biophysical (sea surface temperature, time from high tide, moon illumination, Indian Ocean dipole index) predictors. There were no differences in environmental drivers between females, which comprised 26% of the study population, and males (74%). Similarly, demographic parameters (recapture probability, apparent survival, and probability of entry into the population) estimated in multi-state open robust design capture–mark–recapture models showed no differences between sexes. Generalised additive models and multi-state open robust design models showed a steep decline in whale shark sightings (−87%) and abundance (−89%), respectively. Female abundance was lower and decreased more sharply (−92%) than that of males (−81%), while the abundance of larger ≥ 7-m individuals declined more (−99%) than medium-sized (5–6.9 m, −87%) and small (≤ 5 m, −68%) sharks. This pronounced decline in one of the largest global aggregations of whale sharks highlights the pressing need for ongoing work to understand movement drivers, mitigate threats and protect this Endangered species.
Details
- Title
- A 15-Year Time Series Shows Major Declines in Whale Sharks in Southern Mozambique
- Authors
- Lisa-Marie Auditore - Marine Megafauna FoundationSimon J. Pierce (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringClare E. M. Prebble - Marine Megafauna FoundationAnna Flam - Marine Megafauna FoundationAndrea D. Marshall - Marine Megafauna FoundationStephanie K. Venables - Marine Megafauna FoundationAlexandra Watts - Marine Megafauna FoundationKatie E. Reeve-Arnold - All Out Africa Marine Research Centre (Mozambique)Genaye Domenico - Marine Megafauna FoundationJennifer Keeping - All Out Africa Marine Research Centre (Mozambique)Adriana Mendez-Jimenez - All Out Africa Marine Research Centre (Mozambique)Alina Riensema - Marine Megafauna FoundationMarcela Rosero - All Out Africa Marine Research Centre (Mozambique)Lelia Cumbana - Marine Megafauna FoundationAlexander Tilley - Fundación Talking Oceans (Colombia)Anna Westling - All Out Africa Marine Research Centre (Mozambique)Chris Williams - Quest Overseas (United Kingdom)Christoph A. Rohner - Marine Megafauna Foundation
- Publication details
- Aquatic Conservation, Vol.35(10), pp.1-16
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1002/aqc.70224
- ISSN
- 1099-0755; 1052-7613
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Author(s). Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
- Data Availability
- Data are available in supplementary materials.
- Grant note
- This work was supported by Waterlust, Shark Foundation, Aqua-Firma, Rufford Small Grants and Nacora.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991171942402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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