Three-year project lifts lid on Britain’s little-understood shark species

Shark Scientists Turn to Anglers for Answers on Vulnerable Species

Dr Lucy Hawkes, associate professor at the University of Exeter, is co-leading a new three-year project to study some of England’s most vulnerable shark species. “I like the porbeagle, which looks like a baby great white shark,” she says. “Surfers could see one and be startled, but they’re not dangerous. It’s amazing we share the water with such exciting animals.”

British waters host more shark diversity than many expect. From small catsharks and deepwater dogfish to migratory blue sharks and huge basking sharks, over 40 types inhabit these seas. Yet scientists know surprisingly little about most of them.

Funded with almost £1m from Natural England, the Exeter team will collaborate with the Marine Biological Association, the Angling Trust and the Pat Smith Database—a record of shark catches dating to 1953. Using historical records, electronic tags and recreational sightings, the project will track where and when porbeagle, tope, school and blue sharks feed, mate and migrate. It will also monitor population changes in numbers and distribution to help prioritise conservation.

With three million recreational anglers in the UK, their observations are vital. “The UK has a long history of recreational fishing for sharks and big fish like tuna,” says marine biologist Dr Francesco Garzon, working with Hawkes. “It’s one of the best places to see sharks in Europe.”

Recreational shark fishing is now “catch and release.” Anglers previously recorded catches by weight after landing dead fish; many now measure live sharks before releasing them. Tagging will reveal how sharks respond to this practice. “Anglers are conservation-conscious,” Garzon adds. “They can be ostracised but are usually just as passionate about protecting sharks as we are.”

The biggest threats to UK sharks are direct commercial fishing and accidental bycatch. Hawkes compares shark anglers 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’re obsessed with sharks.”

By reporting catches to the Pat Smith Database, anglers become citizen scientists, helping researchers map species movements. “Even if all the shark researchers in England got together, we just couldn’t have the same level of records,” Garzon says. “Angler records are an essential tool.”

The team will hold in-person workshops and interview hundreds of anglers from the south-west to the north-east of England. Trust built over years of boat trips and tagging pelagic species like bluefin tuna underpins the project. Porbeagles, like bluefin tuna, could swim halfway across the Atlantic.

Forty tags, each worth £1,500, will remain on fish for about 45 days, revealing survival rates after catch-and-release. “Anglers want to know more so they can avoid harming the fish,” Hawkes says. If tags show sharks entering waters with high bycatch rates, that information will be relevant to conservation.

During tagging, the team will take DNA samples—tiny fin clips or skin swabs—to create a genetic connectivity map. “We could work out whether a French blue shark is closely related to an English blue shark,” Garzon explains. “They might be loners then aggregate in big numbers to mate, like tope sharks do in northern Scotland. We don’t yet know.”

Thirty more expensive tags, costing about £4,500 each and lasting a year, will reconstruct individual sharks’ paths, including depth and duration of dives. Hawkes notes people often recoil at the mention of sharks. “We scientists are the ones who say, ‘Shark! Where? Let me see!’ I’d love to change people’s minds about these beautiful animals. They totally belong here.”