# Rerouting ships to avoid killing whale sharks has little cost, study finds

Source: [Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-rerouting-ships-whale-sharks.html) · 2026-11-11 · Life
Page: https://themorning.science/story/rerouting-ships-to-avoid-killing-whale-sharks-has-little-cost-study-finds-64765d4342f75277
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- Redirecting shipping traffic to avoid collisions with whale sharks has very little impact on fuel use, according to new research.
- The study was led by the University of Southampton and published in Royal Society Open Science.
- The reported finding is that rerouting carries little fuel cost, addressing whale shark collision risk.

## Why it matters

The study suggests that shipping reroutes to reduce whale shark collisions may be a low-cost conservation measure, relevant to marine ecology and maritime policy discussions.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-11: Study on rerouting ships to avoid whale shark collisions published in Royal Society Open Science

## Coverage

- [Rerouting ships to avoid killing whale sharks has little cost, study finds](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-rerouting-ships-whale-sharks.html) — Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology, 2026-11-11

Tags: whale sharks, shipping, marine conservation, fuel use, ship strikes

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science