‘We’ve got some really cool sharks’: three-year project to lift the lid on Britain’s little-studied species

‘W“We have really cool sharks,” says Dr Lucy Hawkes. She is not referring to animals found in the rich coastal waters of South Africa or Mexico, but instead to species found around Britain. Hawkes, an associate professor at the University of Exeter, is co-leading a new three-year project to study the lives of three of England’s most endangered shark species.

“I like the Porbeagle, which looks like a baby great white shark,” she says. “Surfers might see one and show their pants, but they’re not dangerous. It’s amazing that we share the water with some pretty interesting animals.”

There are more sharks swimming in British waters than you might expect. From small cat sharks and deep-sea dogs to migrating blue sharks and huge filter-feeding basking sharks, these waters are home to more than 40 different species. However, scientists know surprisingly little about most of them.

Now the laboratory, which Hawkes and her colleague Dr Matthew Witt run in Exeter, has received a grant of almost £1 million from Natural England to work with the Marine Biological Association, the Angling Trust and the Pat Smith Database, a long-standing online record of shark catches dating back to 1953.

Together, they will use a combination of historical records, electronic tags, and recreational observations to learn more about where and when white sharks, tip or school sharks, and blue sharks feed, mate, and migrate. The project will also monitor how shark populations are changing in terms of abundance and distribution, which will help determine how best to prioritize conservation efforts.

Sightings by some of the country’s 3 million recreational anglers provide important information.

“The UK has a long history of recreational fishing for sharks and large fish such as tuna,” says Dr Francesco Garzón, a marine biologist working with Hawkes. “This is one of the best places in Europe to see sharks.”

Recreational shark fishing in the UK is now ‘catch and release’, he explains. Fishing clubs used to keep catch records based on weight after the dead fish landed on board the boat. Many fishermen now measure the length of live sharks in the water before releasing them into the wild. The tagging is meant to show how sharks respond to catch-and-release techniques.

“Anglers care about conservation,” Garson says. “Sometimes they may be ostracized, but usually they are just as passionate about protecting sharks as we are.”

He adds that the biggest threat to British sharks comes from direct commercial fishing or incidental bycatch.

Hawks compares shark catchers to bird ringers. “These people are so passionate about the marine environment; they want to spend thousands of hours just trying to see these amazing animals up close. They are obsessed with sharks.”

By reporting their catches to Pat Smith’s database, captains and recreational anglers act as citizen scientists and help researchers figure out where these species are going.

“Even if all the shark researchers in England got together, we simply wouldn’t have the same level of records,” says Garson. “Fishing records are an important tool in helping us understand shark populations.”

Shark scientists will also conduct face-to-face workshops and conduct interviews with hundreds of anglers across the country, from the south west to the north east of England.

The mutual trust they have built with the fishing community is key to the success of the project. Over the years, the team spent a lot of time on the boats interacting with fishermen and tagging pelagic species such as bluefin tuna. And it is quite possible that porpoises, for example, will be able to swim halfway across the Atlantic, as bluefin tuna can do.

Forty tags, each costing £1,500, will remain on the fish for about 45 days. These tags are supposed to show how well the sharks survive after being caught and released. Even fishermen want to know more about it so they can take steps to avoid harming the fish, Hawks said.

“If the tags show that sharks are moving into waters where a particular fishery with high bycatch levels is allowed, that will be relevant to their conservation. It really depends on what the sharks tell us.”

During tagging, the team plans to take DNA samples from the sharks. This usually involves obtaining a tiny piece of skin from the fin or rubbing the skin with a Q-tip. By doing this, scientists create a map of genetic connectivity.

“We could find out whether the French blue shark is closely related genetically to the English blue shark,” explains Garson. “They may be solitary and then join together in large schools to mate, like the saddle sharks do in northern Scotland. We don’t know yet.”

The team will also use a further 30 more expensive tags, costing around £4,500 each, which will last around a year. “This allows us to reconstruct the shark’s path and tell how deep each shark dived and for how long,” Garzón says.

Hawkes says people often recoil when she mentions sharks. “We scientists are the ones who say, ‘Shark! Where? Let me see!” I would really like to change people’s opinion about these beautiful animals. They belong here completely.”

This story was created in collaboration with Conversation where Anna Turns is Senior Environment Editor