Hope Emerges for Whale Sharks, Despite New Endangered Status
August 11, 2016 By Brian Clark Howard
The iconic whale shark, the largest fish in the sea, was reclassified as an endangered species earlier this month, due to recent declines in its population.
The number of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) has more than halved over the last 75 years, with legal and illegal fishing, entrapment in fishing gear, and collisions with boats responsible for the most deaths, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).