Update from the 24th EEA Conference in Leiden, The Netherlands

All photos provided by Irene Kingma

Written by Irene Kingma

Nederlandse Elasmobranchen Vereniging (NEV) | Dutch Elasmobranch Society (NEV)

The 24th European Elasmobranch Association Annual Scientific Conference (EEA2021) was held in Leiden, the Netherlands, from November 2nd to 5th, 2021. The conference was hosted by the Dutch Elasmobranch Society, who initially planned to organise the meeting in 2020 but delayed it due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The theme of EEA2021 was “Are we there yet? - What developments in the science and policy landscape have delivered for shark and ray conservation?”. To ensure everyone who wanted to was allowed to present, the conference was conducted online on November 2nd and in-person from the 3rd to the 5th. The in-person part had over 100 participants with 80 oral presentations (including one delivered in the form of a song accompanied on ukulele).

The EEA conference aims to bridge advances in scientific understanding of elasmobranch biology and ecology with the latest developments in conservation and management. This was reflected in four keynote speeches, two of which focused on science whilst the other two explored developments in conservation and management of sharks. Dr Sophy McCully from Cefas and Dr Alec Moore from Bangor University gave keynotes from their scientific background; McCully presented on progress to stock assessments and population estimates for sharks in Northern European waters, and Moore described how unconventional research techniques and sources are essential to study elasmobranchs.

On the policy and conservation side, Ali Hood, Director of Conservation at Shark Trust, gave an overview on accomplishments in shark conservation over the past decade and the challenges still ahead of us. She ended her presentation with a call to action on the protection of Mako Sharks (Isurus spp.) through the International Commission for the Conservation for Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). This campaign was successful in reaching its objective later that month. The presentation by Angelo Villagomez of The Pew Charitable Trusts was not focused on sharks but equity in conservation, highlighting the benefits of indigenous peoples’ perspectives and the necessity to include these in efforts to protect nature.

Another essential element of the EEA conference is that for many students, it is a space to present their work. Hence, the organisers lower the participation cost for students and add elements to the program that allowed them to actively engage. All poster presenters were given the opportunity to have a one-minute pitch during the main sessions to introduce their research. On the 3rd day of the conference, there were five breakout sessions for topical workshops where participants discuss and brainstorm about current hot topics in shark research and conservation.

Next year’s EEA conference will be combined with the Sharks International 2022 conference, held in Valencia, Spain, from October 20th to 22nd.