The Shark Trust is the UK marine charity working to advance the worldwide conservation of sharks, skates and rays through science, education, influence and action.
This group of fish, collectively termed elasmobranchs, differ from other (teleost) fish in a number of ways. The biggest differences being that elasmobranchs have an internal skeleton made from cartilage as opposed to bone and rather than having a swim bladder to control their position in the water elasmobranchs have a large oily liver to provide positive buoyancy.
Rather than the terrifying man-eaters that they are commonly portrayed as, elasmobranchs are sometimes inquisitive but generally wary of humans. In UK waters we have around 30 species of shark and 16 species of skate or ray ranging from the relatively abundant Lesser Spotted Catshark (Dogfish) to the very occasional sighting of Shortfin Makos.
Many of the elasmobranchs present in UK waters are under threat from a number of impacts and now 30% of European sharks are considered threatened with extinction. Add this to the paucity in knowledge of skate and ray populations, or the composition of commercial catches, and we have a situation where immediate action is vital to the long term future of British elasmobranchs.
In the Bristol Channel area there is a great diversity of elasmobranchs which you may well encounter. The more regularly sighted species include the Basking Shark, Tope, Smoothhound, Spurdog, Nursehound, Lesser Spotted Catshark and the Undulate, Spotted, Blonde, Thornback, Small-eyed and Cuckoo rays. Other, larger, shark species such as the Porbeagle and Blue Shark are regularly angled in the waters around Lundy Island and so may well make excursions further into the Bristol Channel.
The Trust has created a number of public recording schemes to further our understanding of these fantastic animals and encourage people to record all of the elasmobranch encounters. Once records are submitted they are archived and then made available to local records centres and national and international biodiversity databases.
All incidental records of shark, skate and ray sightings are important (both within UK waters and internationally) to the ongoing effort to protect sharks. Sightings can be uploaded to the Trust's online database at www.sharktrust.org/sd or emailed in to sightings@sharktrust.org.
The Shark Trust also has a specific Basking Shark Photo Identification Project where people are encouraged to send in images of Basking Sharks so that we can assess how anthropogenic impacts are affecting the UK’s largest fish species. Find out more at www.baskingsharks.org.
If you are a diver not only can you provide the Trust with details of the elasmobranchs you see but you can also provide some much needed pictures of free swimming elasmobranchs. There is a dearth of images depicting many of the sharks, skates and rays in UK waters and your images will be much appreciated in the Trust's conservation work.
Anglers are often one of the first groups of people to notice changes in the marine environment and in recent years have embraced sustainable practices such as catch and release.
The Shark Trust collaborates with responsible anglers to encourage best practice and catch recording with the long term future of elasmobranchs in mind. By recording, anglers can help the Shark Trust better understand the species found in British waters and all the variations in colour and morphology that these fish display. Photographs of the dorsal and ventral sides are extremely useful and the Trust encourages submission in hard copy or via email or the internet.
Changes in the distribution of individual species may often go unnoticed by commercial fishers who work on a larger scale than anglers. As such the Trust is also keen to record any observations or anecdotal information that anglers have, especially where people have been visiting the same locations over a number of years.
The Shark Trust has created a number of ID guides to assist in recording. Find out more at www.sharktrust.org/identification or contact sightings@sharktrust.org for more details.
There are over 10 species of skate, ray and shark in UK waters that reproduce by laying tough, leathery eggcases on the seabed. Each eggcase contains one embryo which will develop over several months into a miniature skate, ray or shark.
Each species lays eggcases in different shapes and sizes which remain safely on the seabed until the juvenile has hatched. Once empty, the eggcases are washed up on beaches and can be found amongst the seaweed on the strandline or at the back of the beach. Divers should also be on the lookout for eggcases in situ – finding them where they have been laid provides compelling evidence that the area is a nursery ground.
The distribution of shark, skate and ray species are changing and a number of them are in decline. By taking part in the Great Eggcase Hunt you are helping the Shark Trust to identify areas of the coast where eggcases regularly wash up and this may indicate that nursery grounds are nearby.
Identifying these grounds will lead to their protection and be instrumental in the conservation of British sharks, skates and rays. Your eggcase records are a crucial element of this conservation work – to find out more and download eggcase ID guides go to www.eggcase.org.
Shark, skate or ray records submitted to SEWBReC or The Shark Trust are shared between the two organisations. For more information on any of the above recording schemes please go to www.sharktrust.org/recording or email sightings@sharktrust.org.