Spatial planning is a priority for biodiversity conservation, and area-based measures have become a key element for identification of sites that are particularly important for biodiversity. Initiatives have been developed for specific taxa, such as birds (Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas) and marine mammals (Important Marine Mammal Areas) and for biodiversity more generally (Key Biodiversity Areas and Ecological or Biologically Significant Marine Areas). These approaches are now well accepted and utilized in spatial and conservation planning.

Until recently, such an approach had yet to focus on sharks and their relatives, the rays and chimaeras (hereafter collectively referred to as sharks), one of the most threatened faunal lineages (37% of species are categorized as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List). Overexploitation, unregulated or poorly managed fisheries and trade and, to a lesser extent, habitat degradation and loss, are driving steep declines in many shark populations. Existing area-based conservation approaches have not been designed with this conservation challenge in mind and have not adequately responded to the risk profile of sharks globally.

To address this, the IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group undertook extensive engagement and consultation to develop the Important Shark and Ray Area framework. Modelled on Important Marine Mammal Areas, the development of criteria considered the diverse life histories and unique attributes of sharks. The criteria are applied to identify areas based on shark vulnerability (e.g. species assessed as threatened on the IUCN Red List), range restriction, life history (reproduction, feeding, resting, movement, undefined aggregations), and special attributes (distinctiveness, diversity; Hyde et al., 2022, Frontiers in Marine Science, 9, 968853). Resulting Important Shark and Ray Areas are discrete, three-dimensional portions of habitat that are important for one or more shark species and have the potential to be managed for conservation.

Funded by the Shark Conservation Fund, the Important Shark and Ray Area project has begun working through 13 global regions, covering all marine and inland waters where sharks occur. The project brings together regional experts to contribute knowledge and identify important areas. In the first workshop (in Bogotá, Colombia, in October 2022), 55 experts delineated important areas from the Gulf of California, Mexico, to southern Chile in the Eastern Pacific. This week-long process identified 76 candidate Important Shark and Ray Areas, now under review by an independent review panel. The candidates accepted will appear on the Important Shark and Ray Area e-Atlas, an open access tool for exploring areas important for sharks (sharkrayareas.org/e-atlas). The next workshop will be held in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region in early 2023.

The Important Shark and Ray Area process will give governments and policy makers access to scientifically defined areas that can help them advance actions to conserve sharks. This tool will help countries achieve the Convention on Biological Diversity Global Biodiversity Framework 30 × 30 target (30% of global land and sea conserved through protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures by 2030). Complementary to other area-based measures, we anticipate that Important Shark and Ray Areas will be integrated into the recognition of global sites that hold high biodiversity. Overall, delineating Important Shark and Ray Areas globally will transform shark conservation and contribute to reducing mortality in this highly threatened group.