Jesse E. M. Cochran

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology | KAUST

Significance Global vessel traffic is increasing alongside world economic growth. The potential for rising lethal ship strikes on endangered species of marine megafauna, such as the plankton-feeding whale shark, remains poorly understood since areas of highest overlap are seldom determined across an entire species range. Here we show how satellite...

Background: Reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) populations along the Northeastern African coastline are poorly studied. Identifying critical habitats for this species is essential for future research and conservation efforts. Dungonab Bay and Mukkawar Island National Park (DMNP), a component of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Sudan, hosts the largest...

The whale shark Rhincodon typus is found throughout the world's tropical and warm-temperate ocean basins. Despite their broad physical distribution, research on the species has been concentrated at a few aggregation sites. Comparing DNA sequences from sharks at different sites can provide a demographically neutral understanding of the whale shark's...

106,107 ✉ replying to A. V. Harry & J. M. Braccini Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03463-w (2021) Our global analysis 1 estimated the overlap and fishing exposure risk (FEI) using the space use of satellite-tracked sharks and longline fishing effort monitored by the automatic identification system (AIS). In the accompanying Comment, Harry...

This article is a response to Murua et al.'s Matters Arising article in Nature, "Shark mortality cannot be assessed by fishery overlap alone," which arose from arising from N. Queiroz et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1444-4 (2019).

In the face of increasing anthropogenic threats, coastal nations need to reach common ground for effective marine conservation. Understanding species' connectivity can reveal how nations share resources, demonstrating the need for cooperative protection efforts. Unfortunately, connectivity information is rarely integrated into the design of marine...

An Amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Decades of overexploitation have devastated shark populations, leaving considerable doubt as to their ecological status1,2. Yet much of what is known about sharks has been inferred from catch records in industrial fisheries, whereas far less information is available about sharks that live in coastal habitats³. Here we address this knowledge gap usi...

Highly mobile marine megafauna species, while widely distributed and frequently threatened, often aggregate in distinct localized habitats. Implementation of local management initiatives within these hotspots is more achievable than developing effective conservation strategies that encompass their entire distributions. Such measures have the potent...

Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are typically dispersed throughout their circumtropical range, but the species is also known to aggregate in specific coastal areas. Accurate site descriptions associated with these aggregations are essential for the conservation of R. typus, an Endangered species. Although aggregations have become valuable hubs for r...

Effective ocean management and conservation of highly migratory species depends on resolving overlap between animal movements and distributions and fishing effort. Yet, this information is lacking at a global scale. Here we show, using a big-data approach combining satellite-tracked movements of pelagic sharks and global fishing fleets, that 24% of...

An aggregation of sexually immature whale sharks occurs at a coastal submerged reef near the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast each spring. We tested the hypothesis that these megaplanktivores become attracted to a prey biomass peak coinciding with their aggregation. Acoustic backscatter of the water column at 120 kHz and 333 kHz –a proxy for potential p...

The presence of whale sharks Rhincodon typus were recorded around Shib Habil, a small, coastal reef off the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, from 2010 to 2015. A total of 267 suitable photographs resulting in the identification of 136 individuals, were documented from 305 encounters. Sharks were divided evenly between the sexes with no evidence of te...

Background Large marine species have been a focus of scientists and public for their unique role in the ecosystem as well as in conservation. To study the behaviors of large marine species, electrical tagging is a direct and reliable method. Researchers have been utilizing technology advances in biologging tags on multiple spatiotemporal scales. Th...

Background The Red Sea has received little study when compared to other areas. This holds true for sharks in general and for whale sharks in particular. The discovery of a seasonal aggregation off the Saudi Arabian coast has made the targeted study of Red Sea whale sharks more feasible. Assessing the size and structure of this aggregation is a firs...

Background Off Mafia Island, Tanzania, whale sharks are seen in a small bay that also boasts one of the country's largest coastal fisheries. We set out to determine the population structure of whale sharks here, examine their feeding behaviour and residency, and investigate the interaction between the sharks and fishers. Approach We conducted 261 b...

Background A recent global study of whale shark population genetics has allowed for better understanding of genetic connections between aggregations in both the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic. This overview included an aggregation found within the Red Sea near Al Lith, Saudi Arabia, however the Mafia Island, Tanzania, aggregation was not part of the stu...

Although whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) have been documented to move thousands of kilometres, they are most frequently observed at a few predictable seasonal aggregation sites. The absence of sharks at the surface during visual surveys has led to the assumption that sharks disperse to places unknown during the long 'off-seasons' at most of these lo...

Large planktivores require high-density prey patches to make feeding energetically viable. This is a major challenge for species living in tropical and subtropical seas, such as whale sharks Rhincodon typus. Here, we characterize zooplankton biomass, size structure and taxonomic composition from whale shark feeding events and background samples at...

Conservation efforts aimed at the whale shark, Rhincodon typus, remain limited by a lack of basic information on most aspects of its ecology, including global population structure, population sizes and movement patterns. Here we report on the movements of 47 Red Sea whale sharks fitted with three types of satellite transmitting tags from 2009-2011....

Background. The Western Indian Ocean is a globally important region for the whale shark Rhincodon typus , with well-studied coastal aggregation sites in southern Mozambique, Seychelles and Djibouti. Here we present an overview of a new study at Mafia Island, Tanzania. Methods . We monitored whale shark abundances on 103 boat trips from October 2012...

Background. The Western Indian Ocean is a globally important region for the whale shark Rhincodon typus , with well-studied coastal aggregation sites in southern Mozambique, Seychelles and Djibouti. Here we present an overview of a new study at Mafia Island, Tanzania. Methods . We monitored whale shark abundances on 103 boat trips from October 2012...

Background. The Western Indian Ocean is a globally important region for the whale shark Rhincodon typus , with well-studied coastal aggregation sites in southern Mozambique, Seychelles and Djibouti. Here we present an overview of a new study at Mafia Island, Tanzania. Methods . We monitored whale shark abundances on 103 boat trips from October 2012...

The Red Sea has long been recognized as a region of high biodiversity and endemism. Despite this diversity and early history of scientific work, our understanding of the ecology of coral reefs in the Red Sea has lagged behind that of other large coral reef systems. We carried out a quantitative assessment of ISI-listed research published from the R...

A healthy herbivore community is critical for the ability of a reef to resist and recover from severe disturbances and to regain lost coral cover (i.e., resilience). The densities of the two major herbivorous fish groups (the family Acanthuridae and scarine labrids) were comparatively studied for an inshore reef that was severely impacted by a mass...