2026/07/01 by Ava Graham, Daniel M. Moore
Environmental Science · #Fish Ecology and Management Studies #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Marine and fisheries research
paper · doi:10.1002/aqc.70420
openalex publication_date 2026/07/01 · openalex created_date 2026/07/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/17
ABSTRACT Climate vulnerability in sharks and rays is unevenly distributed across habitats and ecological groups, reflecting differences in exposure pathways and biological constraints. Using an updated application of the Integrated Risk Assessment for Climate Change (IRACC) framework, we conducted a global reassessment of climate vulnerability for 95 shark and ray species spanning freshwater/estuarine, coastal/inshore, reef, shelf, pelagic and bathyal assemblages. Vulnerability was highest among freshwater/estuarine and coastal/inshore taxa, intermediate among reef and shelf species and lower among pelagic and bathyal taxa, although substantial heterogeneity was evident within offshore groups. Exposure pathways differed systematically among habitats. Nearshore species experienced elevated exposure to fishing pressure, habitat modification and altered freshwater input in combination with ocean warming, whereas pelagic and bathyal species were increasingly exposed to basin‐scale climate drivers, particularly ocean warming and deoxygenation. These patterns are consistent with expanding evidence that deoxygenation and warming are reshaping offshore environments previously assumed to be buffered from climate change. Set against accelerating global declines driven primarily by exploitation and habitat degradation, our reassessment indicates that a greater proportion of overlapping taxa now fall within higher vulnerability categories compared with earlier assessments, most notably among nearshore groups. Vulnerability classifications were generally robust to exclusion of individual exposure drivers, highlighting the cumulative nature of climate risk. Together, these findings emphasise the need for climate‐adaptive conservation strategies that (i) integrate fisheries governance to reduce climate‐amplified bycatch and exploitation risk, (ii) prioritise protection and restoration of nearshore habitats critical to highly vulnerable taxa and (iii) incorporate climate‐informed spatial planning to address emerging offshore risk associated with ocean warming and deoxygenation.