Red Alert for Sharks and Rays in Greece

Tuesday 14th January 2025

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After 15 years, the Greek Red List updated including the conservation status of more than 11,500 species, based on the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This update was conducted by the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (N.E.C.C.A) with the contribution of over 140 experts, in collaboration with the IUCN, the Hellenic Zoological Society (HZS), and the Hellenic Botanical Society (HBS). The conservation status of sharks, rays, and a chimaera was assessed by the IUCN Shark Specialist Expert and President of the European Elasmobranch Association, Ioannis Giovos, with the support of other scientists worldwide.

A total of 33 species of sharks, 25 species of rays, and 1 species of chimaera were confirmed to be present in the Greek waters, with 7 species of sharks and 12 species of rays listed as Data Deficient due to insufficient data. Thus, future research must target to close these knowledge gaps and facilitate their assessment for the future protection and conservation of these species.

From the total number of 57 species assessed, 7 species of sharks and 12 species of rays are listed as Data Deficient, due to insufficient data. Thus, future research must target to close these knowledge gaps and facilitate their assessment for the future protection and conservation of these species. However, the presence of 5 species of sharks and 4 species of rays, which were listed in the previous edition of the Red List, was not confirmed, due to the lack of robust evidences that are present in the Greek waters. Of course, this does not totally exclude the possibility of their presence.

As today the accelerating rate of species extinction is the highest ever recorded as the "6th Mass extinction of species in the history of the planet", with 60% of the world’s largest marine ecosystems being degraded or unsustainable, sharks and rays are not unaffected. According to the results, 68% of shark species, 48% of ray species, and the chimaera are at risk of extinction, mainly due to bycatch, but also from the degradation of the marine environment resulting from all human activities in the Mediterranean (coastal development, pollution).

The process for the assessment of the species conservation status led to the systematic collection of the available scientific knowledge and now serves as the largest resource for policymaking towards their conservation and actual science based management to safeguard them.

We would like to warmly thank NECCA, IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group, HZS for the support in the process, the amazing team of iSea and the reviewers for the incredibly detailed work!