* Angel shark as two words represents the family Squatinidae; Angelshark as one word represents the individual species, Squatina squatina.
A video of an Angelshark (Squatina squatina) swimming in Cardigan Bay off the coast of Wales was released in September by Angel Shark Project: Wales, causing a great deal of excitement amongst conservationists. Not only was it the first time one had been filmed in UK waters, but the shark was a juvenile.
The significance of the discovery cannot be understated. Angel sharks (Squatinidae) are in trouble, and nowhere more so than in the European waters of the northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean, Adriatic and Black Sea where all three of the local species (Angelshark Squatina squatina; Smoothback Angelshark Squatina oculate; Sawback Angelshark Squatina aculeata) are categorised as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red list.
Pertinent to their demise is their natural habitat. Angel sharks are found in the reasonably shallow waters of a continental and insular shelf, dwelling in the benthic zone of mud and sand which leaves them exposed to the danger of human disturbance, habitat loss, trawler fishing and pollution. They possess a stout, flat body with wing-like pectoral fins which allows them to bury down into the seafloor where they will wait before ambushing passing prey. Unlike their bigger and more famous cousins, angel sharks are completely innocuous to humans and pose no threat other than a nasty bite if disturbed.
Angelsharks (Squatina squatina) have roamed the waters around Europe for thousands of years, from the tip of southern Scandinavia to the coast of north Africa. They fascinated Aristotle who described them as ‘the shark that can change colour and mimic the pattern of the fish it hunts’, whilst Thomas Pennant warned British fishermen in 1776 of the damage they could do if touched. Yet, its numbers have been decimated since the 1950s and in the far reaches of its northern range it is now locally extinct, no longer found in Norway, the Shetland Isles of Scotland, the Netherlands or the east coast of England. Small pockets of them have survived in the Mediterranean and the Irish Sea, but only the Canary Islands, an archipelago situated 62 miles off of the coast of Morrocco, offers any real haven for the Angelshark.
This catastrophic decline inspired the creation of the first Angel Shark Project (ASP), a unique and pioneering attempt to secure the species’ future, using several different methods of conservation. Founded by Joanna Barker of the Zoological Society of London and Eva Myers of the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, it has always been a partnership between various academic, scientific and charitable bodies but never at the exclusion of the very people who deal most often with the sharks.
“It’s a powerful example of how wildlife conservation can only be truly effective when it is a collaborative effort between scientists, government and all those people who have a stake in the places where species are found,” says Joanna Barker.
Since its inception in 2014, the initial project has led to further ventures, including ASP: Libya, ASP: Greece, ASP: Wales and the wider Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Angel Shark Conservation Strategy and whilst each Project has its own action plan, they work in unison to pioneer new collaboration opportunities to achieve their aim.
Finding an Angelshark now off the Welsh coast is an incredible discovery, but one that has only been achieved after many years of ground-breaking work. In particular, ASP: Wales has focussed on integrating with the locals and getting the fishing community on side. “It is only through the support of local people and those who are in or on the water every day,’ Barker continues “that protective measures really work”. Since 2008 it has been illegal in Wales to fish specifically for Angelsharks, but this cannot stop unintentional catches, both by recreational and commercial fisheries, so it’s been important to reach out and use these accidental incidents as something positive. Rather than rebuking the anglers, the Project seeks to help them learn how to deal with the sharks, producing safety release guidelines, engaging in both informal and fishing association meetings and using social media to see what the community is reporting.
The Project is also reaching out, and back, into the community’s history which is intrinsically entwinned with the sea. Old documents, folk tales, newspaper reports and photographs are all being used to form a picture of the story of the Angelshark in Wales. A recent project roadshow attracted 500 local residents and led to the identification of around 300 instances of interactions with an Angelshark, all contributing to understanding its population figures, natural habitat, birthing grounds, nurseries and migration habits.
Together they are growing a picture of where, when and how frequently the Angelshark is seen in Wales and whether they are native or just passing through. This is what makes the video of the juvenile Angelshark so exciting.
“This footage supports our hypothesis that Angelsharks give birth in waters around Wales,” Barker reveals. “The size (30cm) and white markings on the dorsal fin edges show the Angelshark was born this year, confirming we have an active breeding population in Wales”.
This is citizen science at its best. The fishing community records any sightings to the Angel Shark Sightings Map and are trained to gather DNA via mucus samples; archivists trawl the libraries and museums gathering information; divers search for Angelsharks to video in their natural habitat and collect genetic data from skin deposits left on the sea floor. The footage is already providing new evidence about the Angelshark.
“Only 4% of Angelshark records gathered by ASP: Wales to date are juveniles, so this footage is extremely important,” says Ben Wray, Marine Ecologist and Project Manager at Natural Resources Wales. “It builds our understanding of Angelshark ecology, including that they use both sand and mixed habitats and that the juveniles prey on gobies”.
It also gives the community an opportunity to contribute and to understand exactly what it is that they are saving. “Only a handful of people in Wales would have been lucky enough to see an Angelshark,” Barker says. “It is difficult to communicate the importance of better understanding a species when most people you talk to haven’t seen one!”.
How far the project can go is still open to conjecture. At the moment the British arm of the Angel Shark Project is focused solely on Wales, but there is hope that it could one day spread outwards. A few sightings have been recorded in the Bristol Channel, the body of water that separates southwest England from south Wales, and the ASP: Wales Action Plan (Goal 4) identifies key areas where the Welsh methods might be shared with local partners in the wider region, especially the North Sea.
But reintroducing Angelsharks to the North Sea is, to put it bluntly, a long shot. They haven’t been observed there since 1973 and were officially declared extirpated in 2006, so any project will need to be about reintroducing a new colony rather than saving one that is already present. Waiting for them to re-establish themselves might be a futile venture if trawler fishing, wind farm construction and other human-related disturbances continue unabated. Instead, getting every interested party involved as a partner and utilising citizen science as they have in Wales is going to be vital.
Although science is leading us in the right direction, we still have a long way to go before we can echo Thomas Pennant’s words of 1776 and describe the Angelshark as ‘a fish not unfrequent [sic] on most of our coasts’. Although still tentative, there is hope that Cardigan Bay will soon be replicating the achievements of the Canary Islands as an Angelshark haven, and, longer term, that an ASP: North Sea will eventually be established to build on their success.
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