How Marine Protected Areas are Safeguarding Our Ocean’s Vulnerable Top Predators

The Food and Agriculture Organization conservatively estimates the value of shark fin imports in 2011 was USD 438.6 million and that of shark meat imports was USD 379.8 million [2].
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are protecting many shark populations around the world along with the ecosystems in which they play such important roles.
Sharks are often found in higher abundances and among more species around pelagic biodiversity hotspots such as seamounts and in the waters surrounding remote islands [9].
For example, hammerhead sharks tagged in the Galápagos Islands preferred these types of remote hotspots and often migrated among the hotspots, but rarely remained outside of the hotspots; similar patterns were observed in other pelagic species [10].
However, despite the evident successes of MPAs in safeguarding sharks [12], there is room for improvement in the design, governance [13] and enforcement [14] of MPAs to better protect sharks.
[6] Bonfil, R. (1999) Marine protected areas as a shark fisheries management tool.
(2002) The role of protected areas in elasmobranch fisheries management and conservation.
[8] Barker, MJ and Schluessel, V. (2005) Managing global shark fisheries: suggestions for prioritising management strategies.
[12] White et al. (2017) Asessing the effectiveness of a large marine protected area for reef shark conservation.
[14] White et al. (2017) Asessing the effectiveness of a large marine protected area for reef shark conservation.