Angel Shark Project: Greece

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angel sharks are flat-bodied, moderately sized, coastal sharks with broad pectoral fins, and dorsally located eyes and spiracles.

Throughout the globe, there are 23 species of angel sharks. Their distribution ranges from temperate to tropical marine waters and most of these species inhabit areas in the continental shelf and upper slopes down to 500 m. Unfortunately, due to angel sharks’ life characteristics, i.e. their slow growth, their low reproductive rate as well as their demersal nature which makes them susceptible to large-mesh gillnets, coupled with the intensification of fisheries, they have become the third most threatened family of elasmobranchs in the world, with many species in urgent need of conservation.


Three species of angel shark were once widespread throughout the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea; the Sawback Angelshark (Squatina aculeata), the Smoothback Angelshark (Squatina oculata), the Angelshark (Squatina squatina). The Mediterranean populations of all these species are listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, a fact that means they are all facing an extremely high risk of extinction. Sawback Angelsharks, Smoothback Angelsharks, and Angelsharks have acquired this status because of a steep decline in their populations and local extinctions, as a result of their historical and current overexploitation by demersal fisheries and especially trawl fishing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this context, the Action Plan for the Protection of Angel Sharks in the Mediterranean was published in 2019, with the vision of restoring Mediterranean Angel Sharks to stable populations capable of fulfilling their ecological roles in a healthy ecosystem. The primary objective of the Action Plan is to provide a framework of proposed actions for the conservation of angel sharks in the Mediterranean. More specifically, the Action Plan sets three main objectives:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The recent report of several angel shark records in the Cyclades, the Dodecanese and Crete, showed that these areas are potentially very important for the Mediterranean populations of all 3 angel shark species. Thus, in 2020, the Angel Shark Project Greece was created, a collaborative initiative, led by iSea and supported by ULPGC, ZFMK, ZSL and Shark Trust. The purpose of the initiative was to investigate the importance of the Aegean for the three species of angel sharks (Squatina aculeata, Squatina oculata, Squatina squatina) with the objectives being harmonized with the Mediterranean Action Plan. More specifically:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first initiative of the Angel Shark Project Greece was the creation of the Sub-regional Action Plan for the Protection of Angel Sharks in the Aegean and Crete in 2020, in collaboration with entities from Turkey. This sub-regional action plan is harmonized with the objectives of the Mediterranean Action Plan and essentially constitutes a road map to improve the protection of the 3 species in the area of interest.

As a follow-up to this initiative in 2020, the Angel Shark Project Greece implemented the projects Monitoring Threatened Elasmobranchs in the South Aegean and Strengthening the Protection of Angel Sharks in the South Aegean, with the latter being the first funded project for angel sharks in Greece, offering important deliverables, which significantly increased the level of knowledge about the 3 species in the region.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Help us learn more about angel sharks in Greece by submitting your observations to the Angel Shark Sighting Map. This information will be sent electronically to all the partners of the project and will essentially contribute to a better understanding of the spread of the 3 species in the area.

Learn more about angel sharks in Greece and the Mediterranean

Implementation team
Giorgos Rallis

Giorgos Rallis

MEMBER

Giorgos was born in Athens 1996. He is a Biology graduate of the University of Crete with specialization on Environmental Biology and Biological Resources Management. There he started collaborating with the Natural History Museum of Crete. He is also a graduate of the First Aid and Rescue School of the Hellenic Red Cross. He has worked for ARCHELON the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece as a Public Awareness Leader, a Project assistant for Zakynthos project and a Monitoring Leader for Zakynthos project. He has also worked for ANIMA Hellenic Wildlife Care Association as a wildlife caretaker. George hasn’t settled on a field of expertise yet. He speaks 3 languages, Greek, English (C2), German (B2) and has knowledge on using R programming language and SPSS software. Currently, Giorgos works as a Project Manager in the Vulnerable Species Pillar of iSea.

 

Contact Info:

E-mail: [email protected]

tel. +302313090696

mob. +306909338383

Roxani Naasan Aga – Spyridopoulou

Roxani Naasan Aga – Spyridopoulou

MEMBER

Roxani is an environmentalist, she is studying Marine sciences in University of Aegean. In iSea she did an internship (July-August 2018) on Aquatic Litter and in 2019 she started working οn projects of the “Aquatic Litter” and the “Vulnerable Species” departments. Currently, she is working as a Project Manager. 

Her main research interests are related to elasmobranch ecology and biology and fisheries biology. She holds a license for speedboat and she’s multilingual (Greek, Arabic, English, French). She does know how to code in R. She is a qualified user of ArcGIS and SNAP(ESA). Furthermore, she knows how to use software for ecological data (Vissim, Populus, Primer, Presence, Distance).

Prior to this, she used to work with humanitarian NGOs for refugees in Greece where she participated (as a co-facilitator), in environmental awareness workshops while employed at Save the Children and Solidarity now.

 

Contact Info:

Email: [email protected] 

tel. +302313090696

mob. +306944505224 

Partners
Funders