2021年1月27日，英国埃克塞特大学彭里校区Richard B. Sherley和加拿大西蒙弗雷泽大学Nathan Pacoureau合作在《自然》杂志发表论文，揭示全球半个世纪以来，海洋鲨鱼和rays的数量下降。
他们计算了两个成熟的指标来追踪实现爱知生物多样性目标和可持续发展目标的进展：活着的地球指数（一种从18种鲨鱼和rays物种的57个丰富度时间序列数据集中得出的丰富度变化的量度）和红色名录指数（衡量所有31种鲨鱼和rays海洋物种灭绝风险变化的量度）。
他们发现，自1970年以来，由于相对捕鱼压力增加了18倍，全球海洋鲨鱼和rays的数量下降了71％。这种枯竭使全球灭绝的风险增加到了这种程度，即构成这一具有重要功能的物种的四分之三物种面临灭绝的威胁。迫切需要严格的禁令和基于科学的预防性捕捞限额，以避免人口崩溃，避免破坏生态功能并促进物种恢复。
据介绍，过度捕捞是造成海洋毁灭的主要原因，但是很难测量单个物种的下降和灭绝风险，特别是对于公海中发现的最大的捕食者而言。
附：英文原文
Title: Half a century of global decline in oceanic sharks and rays
Author: Nathan Pacoureau, Cassandra L. Rigby, Peter M. Kyne, Richard B. Sherley, Henning Winker, John K. Carlson, Sonja V. Fordham, Rodrigo Barreto, Daniel Fernando, Malcolm P. Francis, Rima W. Jabado, Katelyn B. Herman, Kwang-Ming Liu, Andrea D. Marshall, Riley A. Pollom, Evgeny V. Romanov, Colin A. Simpfendorfer, Jamie S. Yin, Holly K. Kindsvater, Nicholas K. Dulvy
Issue&Volume: 2021-01-27
Abstract: Overfishing is the primary cause of marine defaunation, yet declines in and increasing extinction risks of individual species are difficult to measure, particularly for the largest predators found in the high seas1,2,3. Here we calculate two well-established indicators to track progress towards Aichi Biodiversity Targets and Sustainable Development Goals4,5: the Living Planet Index (a measure of changes in abundance aggregated from 57 abundance time-series datasets for 18 oceanic shark and ray species) and the Red List Index (a measure of change in extinction risk calculated for all 31 oceanic species of sharks and rays). We find that, since 1970, the global abundance of oceanic sharks and rays has declined by 71% owing to an 18-fold increase in relative fishing pressure. This depletion has increased the global extinction risk to the point at which three-quarters of the species comprising this functionally important assemblage are threatened with extinction. Strict prohibitions and precautionary science-based catch limits are urgently needed to avert population collapse6,7, avoid the disruption of ecological functions and promote species recovery8,9.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03173-9
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03173-9
Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
投稿链接：http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html
本期文章：《自然》：Online/在线发表
