Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our outstanding Altmetric score. While we are thrilled to receive so much media attention, we want to correct some of the factual inaccuracies circulating in the media. A thread

[1/6]

For example, we did not show that:

Reef sharks are extinct on 20% of the world’s coral reefs or 20% of reef sharks have gone extinct.

Saving sharks will protect coral reefs from climate change or healthy reefs need sharks.

[2/6]

Instead, we showed that:

Reef sharks were not seen on 19% of coral reefs sampled in our surveys. In other words, sharks were not sighted on our BRUV footage on 69 of 371 reefs.

[3/6]

In those places, shark abundance is too low for them to fulfill their role in the ecosystem, meaning they are functionally extinct. This does not mean there are zero sharks on those reefs.

[4/6]

We also showed reef sharks are thriving in places w/effective management & there remains ample opportunity to improve the status of reef shark populations in many countries through gear restrictions, fishing bans, closed areas, catch & species limits, or a combo of these.

[5/6]

We encourage you to read our paper, which @nature made freely available on Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343146671_Global_status_and_conservation_potential_of_reef_sharks. We are also here to answer your questions & you can dive into our findings using our interactive map: https://globalfinprint.org/findings/index.html

[6/6]