our new exciting research!

MedSharks – the Italian research and conservation association – is getting ready for the European Elasmobranch Association meeting in Milan in november with exciting updates on its work on Mediterranean basking sharks: we’ve involved oceanographers and even the Navy to learn why baskers like some specific spots in Sardinia (the big island in the middle of the Med which we discovered is a seasonal stop-over in their migrations). We also tried to assess the impact of pollution (really exciting and worrying news). This project, called Operazione Squalo Elefante, is supported by the Italian branch of the Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco.

We’re also presenting official stats on shark landings in Italy in the last seven years, and a fun citizen-science project called Mermaid’s Purse, supported by the Save Ours Seas Foundation, that involved divers to sketch a map of breeding grounds in Italy of the nursehound shark.

Our websites badly need update and mantaining, so you might not find all informaton there yet… but it will be soon!

Operation Basking Shark in full swing in Sardinia

This is a post for our international friends, a recap of the last week in Sardinia where our research on the presence and habits of the basking shark is taking place (BTW – basking sharks are those funny giant sharks that often swim at the surface, mouth agape, to filter plankton. That’s all they eat, so no need to worry if you see a 8 meter shark in the water!)

We’ve been collecting information on these animals for many years, and have come to understand that they arrive in Sardinia every year as winter turns into spring.