4 out of 5 whale sharks have scars caused by human activity

By Stephen Beech

Four out of five endangered whale sharks spotted at a marine tourism hotspot had "human-caused" scars, reveals new research.

Conservationists found that 80.6% of the largest living fish species seen off Indonesian Papua in the Pacific exhibited injuries that were attributed to human-made causes.

Whale sharks are officially classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .

Over the past 75 years, whale shark populations have declined by more than 50% worldwide, and by up to 63% in the Indo-Pacific region.

Because the species take up to 30 years to become sexually mature, scientists say populations can only recover slowly from threats, including hunting for fins, meat, and oil, habitat loss, and entanglement in fishing nets.

Now, an internationa