A new global study co-authored by Dr Ana Sequeira, Founder & Lead Coordinator of MegaMove, reveals that climate change is expected to significantly shift whale shark habitats, increasing their future exposure to shipping activity.
Published in Nature Climate Change, the study led by Dr Freya Womersley combines over 15 years of satellite tracking data from 348 individuals with climate projections to model future habitat suitability for the world’s largest fish. Results indicate that suitable habitat for whale sharks will move more than 1,000 kilometres poleward by 2100, with some countries projected to lose over 50% of their current core habitat.
Under a high-emissions scenario, the overlap between whale shark habitats and global shipping is predicted to increase by more than 15,000 times, substantially raising the risk of ship strikes—already a known threat to the species. These findings point to the need for spatial planning and mitigation measures that account for shifting species distributions in a warming ocean.
This work underscores the importance of large-scale biologging data and forward-looking conservation tools—core to MegaMove’s mission – to support mobile species conservation in dynamic marine environments.
