Writing Retreat on the sideline of Sharks International 2022 in Valencia, Spain

Written by Rima Jabado

IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group | Chair

IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group | Program Officer

Front cover of original Fowler et al. 2005 status report

The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group (SSG) hosted a first Global Report Writing workshop on Tuesday 18th, and Wednesday 19th of October, on the sidelines of the Sharks International 2022 conference in Valencia, Spain. This allowed to bring together contributors and members from around the world to work together and receive nation/region-specific input as they work towards developing a new roadmap for future policy and research actions for sharks, rays, and chimaeras.

Seventy-eight contributors attended the Global Report Writing Retreat Workshop, with 47 attending in-person and 31 joining online, from all nine SSG regions (i.e., Africa, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, North America, Northern Europe, Oceania, and South America). The majority of in-person attendees came from the Indian Ocean (n=7), North America (n=7), Northern Europe (n=6), and Oceania (n=6) regional groups. The workshop provided an opportunity for those contributing to the report to discuss information related to chondrichthyan status, conservation, local ongoing research projects, and policy status.

Once complete, the global report will provide an overview of the current status of sharks, rays, and chimaeras around the world from the national level perspective. This information is expected to lead to rational and responsible management, improved funding allocation, and identifying research priorities to secure the conservation of sharks, rays, and chimaeras around the world. The report will form the basis of a comprehensive resource documenting progress in data collection, fisheries management, as well as changes in the characteristics of products, trade, and economics of exploitation. Essentially, it will be an update to the existing publication by Fowler et al. (2005) on the global status of these species.

Overall, the report now covers 173 countries and territories, and 267 contributors from around the world have volunteered to contribute and have started working on their respective sections. The country-level details written during the workshop will be published in the main report, which will be available online through the SSG website and as an official IUCN publication.

The Save Our Seas Foundation and The Georgia Aquarium funded the workshop. We are grateful to them and to all the contributors from around the world that are working hard to ensure each section of the report is complete with the most up-to-date information.

An additional writing retreat workshop is planned for early 2023 (funded by the Mohamed Bin Zayed Foundation) to bring together contributors from Asia, as this region was the most underrepresented at the workshop. This will ensure improved representation and an opportunity for regional contributors to come together to consolidate information.