The graphic shows that longline fishing pressure, which targets species such as tunas, swordfish and sharks, is much higher in the Atlantic Ocean. Nearly eight times as many hooks are set each year in the much smaller Atlantic Ocean. The ‘hotspot’ areas are also used by sharks such as the blue and shortfin mako sharks.

‘Around 60 million sharks are caught every year in the global oceans, and many are for the fin markets in places like Hong Kong and Taiwan,’ Professor David Sims of the Marine Biological Association says.

For further information see the paper ‘Spatial Dynamics and Expanded Vertical Niche of Blue Sharks in Oceanographic Fronts Reveal Habitat Targets for Conservation‘published in PLoS ONE, freely available via open access.

See also a link to stories about the research on the NERC Planet Earth website and in The Guardian.