The habitats of whale sharks are moving due to climate change, leading to increased and dangerous overlap with global shipping routes.

A new study, published in Nature Climate Change, used global climate models and long-term satellite-tracking data to find that climate change is causing shifts in animal habitats, including those of threatened marine species like the whale shark, the world's largest fish.

Dr Samantha Reynolds and Dr Brad Norman, both Research Fellows from Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute and co-authors on this publication, said that the study projects that core habitat areas for whale sharks could shrink substantially leading to an even bigger shift.

“The study projects that by 2100, core habitat areas for whale sharks could shrink by more than 50% in some national waters, with the species moving over 1,000 kilometres from their current locations,” Dr Reynolds said. “

This shift is expected to increase the presence of whale sharks in areas with heavy shipping traffic, raising the risk of collisions.

“Under high emissions scenarios, this risk could be over 15,000 times greater compared to a sustainable development scenario.

“These findings highlight the urgent need for climate-threat predictions in conservation efforts to protect endangered marine species from increased exposure to human threats.”

The large global study involved experts from countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, USA, Qatar, Mexico, Madagascar, Brazil, Colombia.

The full paper ‘Climate-driven global redistribution of an ocean giant predicts increased threat from shipping’ is available in Nature Climate Change.

Image credit: Mark Erdmann

Find out more about the important research being undertaken by Murdoch's Harry Butler Institute.