Previous reports of drastic declines in the elusive angelshark in Wales, U.K., may be overestimated and may be partly explained by changes in fishing trends throughout the past decades, according to a recent study. The angelshark (Squatina squatina), listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2006, is a bottom-dwelling shark that can grow up to 2.4 meters (8 feet) long. It was once a common predator in the sandy habitats of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. However, over the past 50 years, the shark is reported to have declined dramatically in Wales — by as much as 70% between 1970 and 2016 — as it would often be caught as bycatch in nets used on the seabed to catch shellfish and other bottom-dwelling animals. Most data on the angelshark have come from chance encounters with it as bycatch, the authors write. But it is important to consider how socioeconomic fishing practices have evolved and influenced historical sightings and records of the angelshark, they add. To address this, researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Natural Resources Wales and Welsh fishing organizations interviewed 27 Welsh commercial, recreational and charter fishers who actively fished within the Welsh Zone between 1968 and 2019. All of them recalled catching angelsharks incidentally, sometimes while fishing for thornback rays (Raja clavata), before the year 2000. One fisher told the researchers that angelsharks were a “nuisance” since they didn’t have commercial value and would damage fishing gear. However, over…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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