Critical habitats for sharks and rays in Asia remain largely unprotected
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2026-06
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<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p> The Asia region harbors exceptional chondrichthyan (shark, ray, and chimaera) diversity but faces intense fishing pressure. The Important Shark and Ray Area (ISRA) process provides a collaborative, evidence-based framework to identify critical habitats and inform spatial management. We assessed ISRAs across the Bay of Bengal, Southeast Asia, and the Northwest Pacific to characterize their extent, ecological significance, and conservation relevance. We delineated 122 ISRAs spanning ~ 1 million km <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> (~ 3% of the region) across 12 jurisdictions and international waters, encompassing habitats for 121 species (~ 30% of Asia’s chondrichthyans), 76% of which are threatened. Depleted taxa (e.g., giant guitarfishes, Glaucostegidae) were represented, but charismatic megafauna (e.g., Whale Shark <jats:italic>Rhincodon typus</jats:italic> ) were overrepresented. In contrast, deepwater and freshwater species were underrepresented. Reproductive Areas were the most common ISRA sub-criterion applied (52% of ISRAs), largely in nearshore zones, while areas for range-restricted species were less frequently (18%) identified. Twelve ISRAs overlapped with biodiversity hotspots, including seven in areas of high overall chondrichthyan species richness and five in areas of high range-restricted species richness. Citizen science was the predominant research method used to delineate ISRAs, while fisheries data were underused despite the region’s major fisheries footprint. Geographic coverage was uneven: Indonesia held the most ISRAs (n = 40; 71.7% of ISRA coverage) while eight jurisdictions (e.g., Viet Nam, China, Republic of Korea) lacked ISRAs due to data gaps. Protection shortfalls are stark: MPAs cover < 5% of national waters in 16 jurisdictions (eight with < 1%); 5.4% of ISRA area lies within MPAs; and only 2.8% of ISRA spatial extent overlaps with no-take zones. These results provide a regional foundation to guide spatial planning, prioritize management, close data gaps, and support recovery of Asia’s diverse and imperiled chondrichthyan assemblages. </jats:p>
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Gonzalez-Pestana, Adriana, Peter M Kyne, Emiliano García-Rodríguez, Ryan Charles, Vanessa Bettcher Brito, Asia O Armstrong, Amanda Batlle-Morera, Marta D Palacios, et al. (2026). Critical habitats for sharks and rays in Asia remain largely unprotected. Biodiversity and Conservation, 35(7). 10.1007/s10531-026-03356-2 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/34729.
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Rafid Shidqi
Rafid Shidqi (he/him) is a trained marine conservationist from Indonesia. He is currently a PhD student at the Duke University Marine Lab, working under the supervision of Dr. Grant Murray, and the founder of Thresher Shark Indonesia, a youth-led NGO focused on conserving endangered sharks and helping communities transition from traditional shark hunting to alternative livelihoods through research, education, and policy change.
Before coming to Duke, Rafid held consultancy roles with various global institutions, including the Asian Development Bank, where he led the implementation of climate change initiatives for young people in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Atoll countries. He also worked with the FAO in Indonesia as a specialist in small-scale fisheries development, documenting best practices for implementing the FAO's voluntary guidelines in small-scale fisheries. His other role was with the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, where he facilitated youth in the Asia-Pacific region in accessing funds to lead community-based initiatives in marine conservation, climate adaptation, and mitigation.
His PhD work will focus on understanding the emergence of local political resistance in response to shark conservation interventions using the lens of political ecology. He cares about sharks and human well-being, and his goal is to understand how conservation (specifically in Indonesia) can be designed equitably without causing social marginalization.
Rafid earned a Master of Science in Coastal Science and Policy from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He also received a certificate in Sustainable Environmental Management from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a 2022 Graduate Fellow at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS) in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford, UK.
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