An initiative by Sharklab ADRIA, supported by SPA/RAC, to strengthen awareness, capacity building, and conservation in Albania.
In the Mediterranean, more than half of shark, skate and ray species are threatened. Their decline is driven by overfishing, habitat degradation, and limited awareness among stakeholders. Improving their conservation status requires not only stronger management measures, but also better knowledge and engagement at the local level.
In Albania’s southern Adriatic, where fishers, students and policymakers often lack access to practical tools and training, Sharklab ADRIA launched a multi-stakeholder initiative to bridge this gap and build conservation literacy at local level and beyond.
“The initiative aims to foster behavioral change and improve regional conservation literacy by combining scientific knowledge, participatory training, practical demonstrations, and audio-visual material”, explains the NGO.
The project delivered a wide range of actions designed to engage both professionals and the public:
- Capacity building: Two practical workshops brought together more than 20 students and early-career researchers. Participants learned species identification techniques, ecological roles of cartilaginous fishes, and proper handling protocols to reduce bycatch mortality, with live demonstrations on board fishing vessels and in rehabilitation tanks.
- Work with fishers: Twenty local fishers participated in interactive sessions at Vlora’s Triport harbor, focusing on species identification, ecological significance, and safe release practices.
- Educational materials: Five tools were developed and distributed, including posters, a multilingual brochure on handling and release, and identification guides for students, researchers, and policymakers.
- Audio-visual material: A series of short documentaries showcased fishery-induced trauma, threats facing cartilaginous fishes in Southern Adriatic region, as well as ongoing scientific research and the rediscovery of a critically endangered species, i.e. the spiny butterfly ray (Gymnura altavela) in Albanian waters.
- Community events: A final public event in Vlorë evolved into a ten-day “open lab” due to strong local and tourist interest, allowing visitors to explore Sharklab ADRIA’s facilities, learn about species conservation, and engage in discussions on marine biodiversity protection.
The guide to optimal handling practices to improve post-capture survival in commercial and small-scale fisheries and research is available on the Sharklab website.
This initiative mobilised fishers, students, NGOs and the general public, while generating valuable educational resources on the conservation of cartilaginous fishes in the southern Adriatic.
If you are interested in scaling up this project or developing collaborations, we invite you to contact Sharklab ADRIA: www.sharklab-adria.org.
This initiative, along with five others for shark conservation, was supported by SPA/RAC, the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE), as part of its support to the implementation of the 2024–2025 Work Programme of UNEP/MAP, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the FishEBM Med project.
