A HEALTHIER OCEAN STARTS WITH DATA.
In 2015-16, Annabel Westell, an Honours Student at Dalhousie University, supervised by Christine Ward-Paige and Heike Lotze, aims to assess the distribution and vulnerability of reef-associated sharks and rays in Thailand to determine which areas, if any, are threatened by fishing or habitat modification.
Data from divers, fishers, satellite images, and published and grey literature will be compiled and used to assess spatial patterns in elasmobranch diversity, abundance, and threats from human pressures in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. Habitat degradation, human population density and fishing intensity will be the focal threats.
It is expected that the findings of this project could provide information to stakeholders on the vulnerability of elasmobranchs at various spatial scales in Thailand, and to delineate priority conservation areas.