Cassie Rigby

James Cook University | JCU · Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture

Freshwater ecosystems are highly biodiverse¹ and important for livelihoods and economic development², but are under substantial stress³. To date, comprehensive global assessments of extinction risk have not included any speciose groups primarily living in freshwaters. Consequently, data from predominantly terrestrial tetrapods4,5 are used to guide...

The true state of ocean biodiversity is difficult to assess, and there are few global indicators to track the primary threat of overfishing. We calculated a 50-year Red List Index of extinction risk and ecological function for 1199 sharks and rays and found that since 1970, overfishing has halved their populations and their Red List Index has worse...

Here, we summarise the extinction risk of the sharks and rays endemic to coastal, shelf, and slope waters of the southwest Indian Ocean and adjacent waters (SWIO+, Namibia to Kenya, including SWIO islands). This region is a hotspot of endemic and evolutionarily distinct sharks and rays. Nearly one-fifth (n = 13 of 70, 18.6%) of endemic sharks and r...

In November 2021, the IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group held a series of online workshops to reassess the Red List status of the five sawfish species (family Pristidae). This process concluded in December 2023 with the publication of the final assessment, for the narrow sawfish Anoxypristis cuspidata. Since the previous asses...

The deep ocean is the last natural biodiversity refuge from the reach of human activities. Deepwater sharks and rays are among the most sensitive marine vertebrates to overexploitation. One-third of threatened deepwater sharks are targeted, and half the species targeted for the international liver-oil trade are threatened with extinction. Steep pop...

Globally, freshwater environments are imperilled, with freshwater vertebrate species declining at twice the rate of marine and terrestrial populations. Non‐marine elasmobranchs (freshwater obligates and euryhaline generalists) remain understudied and overlooked by conservation efforts. This study aimed to adapt and apply a vulnerability assessment...

Overfishing is the most significant threat facing sharks and rays. Given the growth in consumption of seafood, combined with the compounding effects of habitat loss, climate change, and pollution, there is a need to identify recovery paths, particularly in poorly managed and poorly monitored fisheries. Here, we document conservation through fisheri...

Sharks and rays are key functional components of coral reef ecosystems, yet many populations of a few species exhibit signs of depletion and local extinctions. The question is whether these declines forewarn of a global extinction crisis. We use IUCN Red List to quantify the status, trajectory, and threats to all coral reef sharks and rays worldwid...

This document has been submitted by the Government of Panama * , in relation to Prop 37, 38, 39 and 40, and agenda item 65 and 87.2 Effective policy should be informed by rigorous evidence. This is particularly true for binding intergovernmental agreements like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CIT...

The gummy shark (Mustelus antarcticus) is endemic to Australia and is the target of commercial fisheries in southern Australia. However, the Queensland population is subjected to low levels of fishing mortality. The present study re-analysed a limited length-at-age dataset collected from central Queensland to estimate growth parameters in a Bayesia...

Chondrichthyan fishes are among the most threatened vertebrates on the planet because many species have slow life histories that are outpaced by intense fishing. The Western Central Atlantic Ocean, which includes the Greater Caribbean, is a hotspot of chondrichthyan biodiversity and abundance, but has been characterized by extensive shark and ray f...

The southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) is a hotspot of endemic and evolutionarily distinct sharks and rays. We summarise the extinction risk of the sharks and rays endemic to coastal, shelf, and slope waters of the SWIO and adjacent waters (Namibia to Kenya, including SWIO islands). Thirteen of 70 species (19%) are threatened: one is Critically Endanger...

Chondrichthyan fishes are among the most threatened vertebrates on the planet because many species have slow life histories that are outpaced by intense fishing. The Western Central Atlantic Ocean, which includes the greater Caribbean, is a hotspot of chondrichthyan biodiversity and abundance, but is historically characterized by extensive shark an...

Somniosus pacificus, Pacific Sleeper Shark

The scale and drivers of marine biodiversity loss are being revealed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessment process. We present the first global reassessment of 1,199 species in Class Chondrichthyes—sharks, rays, and chimeras. The first global assessment (in 2014) concluded that one-quarter (24%) of species...

The southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) is a hotspot of endemic and evolutionarily distinct sharks and rays. We summarise the extinction risk of the sharks and rays endemic to coastal, shelf, and slope waters of the SWIO and adjacent waters (Namibia to Kenya, including SWIO islands). Thirteen of 70 species (19%) are threatened: one is Critically Endanger...

The scale and drivers of marine biodiversity loss are being revealed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessment process. We present the first global reassessment of 1,199 species in Class Chondrichthyes—sharks, rays, and chimeras. The first global assessment (in 2014) concluded that one-quarter (24%) of species...

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 seas. Here we calculate two well-established indicators to track progress towards Aichi Biodiversity Targets and Sustainable Development Goal...