Antonia Kloecker

Sharks on the Move: species distribution modelling of migratory sharks to inform ecosystem-based management under global change. The basking shark, porbeagle and spurdog, are considered Endangered. Yet, fundamental information about their distributions, resource selection, and vulnerability to human activities is lacking. Meanwhile, these species are experiencing increased pressure from fisheries, coastal development, and climate change. Norway needs better information about the distribution of its sharks for effective fisheries management, marine spatial planning, and conservation action. ‘Sharks on the Move’ is a collaborative research project that will combine existing distributional data with new satellite tracking to generate novel models of the environmental and ecological drivers of present and projected distributions of these three shark species in Norway. The project will combine satellite tracking data from sharks and fisheries to provide a spatio- temporally-complete view of how fisheries overlap with shark habitats and space-use. The results will be applicable for management while engaging society in some of Norway’s most compelling and threatened aquatic living resources.