Shark SOS: The initiatives seeking to revive Europe's predator populations
Sharks in Europe's seas are silently struggling to survive. We meet the researchers and volunteers working to change perspectives and protect marine life.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 At the foot of Mount Vesuvius on the western coast of Italy lies the Bay of Naples, renowned
00:06 for the beauty of its surrounding area and the richness of its marine life.
00:11 A few years ago, Italian journalist and marine researcher Eleonora De Sabata, following a
00:17 tip from local divers, discovered a true living treasure in one of the bay's underwater reefs.
00:24 Together with Eleonora, we dive to a depth of 40 metres to witness with our own eyes
00:29 a sight that is becoming increasingly rare in the Mediterranean Sea.
00:36 These curious objects, often called mermaids' purses, are shark eggs, crevices of life for
00:53 some of the dozens of shark species living in the Mediterranean.
00:57 Some sharks might be nearby right now, but it's not us who are in danger here.
01:03 It's the sharks, silently struggling for survival in their own habitat.
01:14 In the crevices of this underwater reef live nursehound sharks, a species harmless to humans
01:21 and crucial for the marine ecosystem.
01:24 Each can be identified by a unique pattern of specks.
01:28 Eleonora takes a note.
01:30 She has assigned each shark a personal name, but her observations reveal that instead of
01:35 increasing, the local shark population is collapsing.
01:39 When we started this survey, you could find hundreds of cases in this area.
01:44 Now ten years later, there's only dozens.
01:47 Sadly, this is something that has happened everywhere in the Mediterranean Sea.
01:52 It's not that there are people who are actively catching sharks, but they get entangled in
01:57 nets and hooks that are meant for other species, and then we change their environment a lot.
02:04 They need quiet.
02:05 They need places where the baby sharks can rest, can shelter, and can find food.
02:11 And we've transformed every coastal area, so they're not doing too well.
02:17 Since the 1970s, the shark population in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea has plummeted by 99
02:23 percent.
02:24 Yet this crisis often remains unnoticed.
02:27 The Livorno Aquarium participates in the EU-funded Life European Sharks, which aims to educate
02:33 Europeans of all ages about sharks and their close relatives, rays.
02:38 Many believe that sharks' sinister image may be hindering efforts towards their conservation.
02:44 These animals must migrate from a negative meaning given by past cinematography to a
02:52 much more sustainable meaning, much more focused on the environment, for the very important
02:59 ecological role they have at the environmental level.
03:03 The cultural shift must also extend to culinary choices.
03:07 Sharks in European waters are often caught by accident and are considered low-value fish.
03:12 However, this bycatch can be sold in areas such as Livorno, where consuming shark meat
03:18 is a tradition.
03:20 Eleonora de Sabata, who leads the Life European Sharks project, works with fishermen to ensure
03:25 that protection measures are respected and that at least smaller sharks are released
03:30 alive.
03:31 Many restauranteurs are sympathetic.
03:34 Sustainably caught local fish can perfectly well substitute shark meat, even in traditional
03:39 dishes like the famous Livorno fish stew, caciucco.
04:05 Shark-free caciucco remains just as delicious.
04:08 A small but meaningful step towards preserving European shark populations, but there's still
04:14 a long journey ahead to achieve this goal.
04:17 It's complicated to reverse the decline of sharks in the Mediterranean Sea because the
04:22 only solution will be to stop fishing and that is impossible for a number of reasons.
04:27 So our approach is to try and focus on the human element and change the perspective on
04:33 sharks from being dangerous to endangered.
04:36 Each and every one of us can actually do something tangible to help sharks recover.
04:43 It's a challenging task, but there's good reason to hope that by working together, things
04:48 can be made better.
04:51 Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, isn't just a hot spot for beachgoers and scuba
04:56 divers.
04:57 It's also one of the last strongholds for an amazing species that used to be common
05:01 along European shores, the angel sharks.
05:06 They look a lot like rays and live in shallow waters, which has made them all too common
05:11 as accidental catches in bottom trawling.
05:14 Now they are classified as a critically endangered species, so it's as bad as it can get for
05:19 a species before it disappears.
05:22 But the good news is that now that we are paying more attention to them again, they
05:26 are starting to appear again in a lot of places, which is very exciting.
05:31 We established citizen science reporting map so that all the divers that were going into
05:35 the water, if they would see an angel shark, they could report it to us.
05:40 Ewa Meyers leads the Angel Shark Project, a joint effort by European research groups
05:45 to study and safeguard these species.
05:48 A big part of their work relies on citizen science, like this dive center that reports
05:53 every encounter with angel sharks.
05:55 We can say we saw an angel shark at this dive site, in this depth.
05:59 He was acting like this.
06:01 It was a male, a female.
06:03 The water temperature, it's like a swarm intelligence and we can help.
06:09 They're telling us more about the habitat, they're telling us about the threats.
06:13 They're the ones actually taking care of the sharks in their areas.
06:18 They're the guardians of the angels.
06:21 We're joining the Angel Shark Project team to explore one of the local habitats of this
06:26 species.
06:28 Studying such sites might reveal ways to revive their populations in the Northeast Atlantic
06:32 and the Mediterranean Sea.
06:35 Working with the team is Felipe Ravina Olivares, who transitioned from a Canarian marine scientist
06:41 to a pro underwater videographer.
06:44 His documentaries are a rallying cry for protecting the environment and the unique marine life
06:49 of the archipelago, including the angel sharks.
06:53 Here in the Canary Islands, as we don't have any fish, they have been able to survive.
06:57 We have a stable population, we see them all year round.
07:01 We have young, we see adults and it's incredible.
07:03 For me it's a huge pride and my job is to let people know the importance of the angel
07:10 shark and that we have to take care of it because it's a unique treasure in the world.
07:14 The team tags any shark they find to better understand their habitats and migration paths.
07:21 Thanks to data gathered by both professionals and citizen scientists, authorities are increasingly
07:26 able to protect these sharks from accidental fishing and other threats.
07:33 I have a lot of hope.
07:35 There's been new protected areas being established in different places that are definitely going
07:38 to help.
07:39 So I am confident that we're going into the right directions with a few very, very hard
07:45 challenges ahead of us though.
07:47 The life in our seas relies on a full range of biodiversity, from plankton up to apex
07:53 predators.
07:55 Sharks must be saved to keep the ocean healthy.
07:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]