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
Ioannis Giovos
Born in Thessaloniki, Ioannis is a graduate of the Biology Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with a Master’s degree in Fisheries Biology and Management from the same University. Currently, he continues his studies at the University of Patras in collaboration with the University of Padua as a Ph.D. Candidate focusing on shark and ray conservation policies.
With over a decade of experience in Mediterranean apex predators conservation and having served in major organisations such as the Tethys Research Institute, the Institute of Marine Research and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Ioannis currently coordinates several projects and initiatives related to the conservation of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean. At the same time, he is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group, he is the current President of the European Elasmobranch Association. He has more than 50 articles published in scientific journals and more than 60 communications at international and national conferences while he has been involved in the drafting of 3 Action Plans for Endangered Species and participated in the publication of 5 books. He speaks 3 foreign languages, Greek (native) English (C1), Spanish (B2) and is a PADI diving instructor.
Contact Info:
Email: [email protected]
tel. +302313090696
Roxani Naasan Aga – Spyridopoulou
Roxani is an environmentalist, she holds a bachelor’s in Marine sciences from the University of Aegean. In 2019, she started working on projects for the “Aquatic Litter” and the “Vulnerable Species” departments. Currently, she is working as a Project Manager for projects regarding “Vulnerable Species” and “Human and Aquatic Ecosystems”.
Her main research interests are related to elasmobranch ecology and biology, fisheries biology, and marine protected areas. She holds a speedboat licence, and a diving licence and is multilingual (Greek, Arabic, English, and French). She knows 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).
Before this, she used to work with humanitarian NGOs for refugees in Greece as a cultural mediator and interpreter.
Contact Info:
Email: [email protected]
tel. +302313090696
mob. +306944505224
Martina Ciprian
Martina was born in 1998. She graduated in Biology at the University of Padova and has a Master’s Degree in Marine Biology from the same university. She started to work on the Vulnerable Species Pillar project, more specifically in the By ElasmoCatch Project during her master’s internship.
Her main research interests are related to elasmobranchs biology, ecology, behavior, and fishery management, as well as legislation and local ecological knowledge. During her internship and after her Master’s Degree, she also collaborated on projects run by the University of Padua. She worked within the Italian Bycatch Monitoring Project. She speaks Italian and English. She is learning how to code in R and use QGIS. She has a PADI SCUBA DIVER certification, and she is starting her training for the OPEN WATER DIVER PADI and the OPEN FREEDIVING certification.
She is currently working in iSea as Project Manager in the field base of iSea (Ambracian Gulf) inside the By ElasmoCatch Project.
Contact information:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +39 3442456270
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