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Shark News - Issue 13 | April 2026
Content:
- 5 Editorial
- 6 Transitions within the SSG: Honoring Our Regional Vice-Chairs and Red List Authority Coordinator
- 12 Q&A | Turning the Tide for Manta and Devil Rays
- 18 Shark Spotlight | Rosette Freshwater Stingray (Potamotrygon schuemacheri)
- 22 New Species Alert
- 28 Breaching Basking Sharks
- 40 CITES CoP20 and Why it Matters for Shark and Ray Conservation Moving Forward
- 52 Angelsharks : A Convention of Migratory Species (CMS) Success Story
- 58 Proof of Concept : Age Validation through Isotopic Signatures in Vertebrae
- 62 The Important Shark and Ray Areas of the European Atlantic
- 76 Only One Percent of Important Shark and Ray Areas in the Western Indian Ocean Are Fully Protected
- 78 Mobulids of Muncar : Balancing Science and Conservation for Lasting Change in East Java’s Largest Shark and Ray Fisheries
- 84 Important Habitats for Karimunjawa’s Shark-like Rays: a Collaborative Search by Fishers and Scientists
- 90 From Science to Action : Building Local Capacity for Shark and Ray Conservation in Guatemala
- 94 Sharks, Paradise, and an Unexpected Threat : Three Years Studying Pollution in Eleuthera
- 102 Oceânicas: Empowering Women and Girls in Shark Research on Brazil’s Oceanic Islands
- 110 Researching Walking (Epaulette) Sharks in Papua New Guinea
- 120 Doomed to Isolation or just Exploiting Spatial Benefits? Findings about the Strange Distribution of the Galapagos Shark
- 130 Needle in a Haystack : Scientists Uncover First Whale Shark Aggregation on Australia’s East Coast
- 136 New Evidence Reveals Scalloped Hammerhead Nurseries along Guatemala’s Pacific coast
- 142 Shark meat on the Italian Menu : Consumption, Awareness and Conservation Opportunities
- 148 Peruvian Chondrichthyes Biodiversity Updated : High Stakes for Chimaeras, Sharks and Rays
- 154 Why One Size Doesn’t Fit All : Rethinking Conservation Needs for Carpet Sharks
- 160 Unveiling Hidden Diversity : The Role of Genetic Studies in Shark and Ray Conservation
- 166 Across the Eastern Tropical Pacific : the Region-wide Birthing Migration of a Scalloped Hammerhead
- 174 Pollution in Shark and Ray Conservation Assessments : a Threat that should not be Overlooked
- 180 Amazing Things Scientists Learned About Sharks and Rays in 2025
- 184 Assess Working Group : IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Update 2025
- 198 Fast Genetic Tools for Marine Conservation : New Scientific Paper and Practical E-book Now Available
- 206 Unveiling the Ocean’s Giants : New Field Guide Celebrates Manta and Devil Rays
- 216 Illustrating Protection : A Field Guide to India’s Protected Sharks and Rays
- 220 Wildlife and Ocean Fest : Dive into Conservation Celebrations ! Did you Celebrate ?
- 224 Funding Opportunities
- 226 Upcoming Meetings
- 228 Our Sponsors
Summary
Conservation is not a solo endeavour. It never has been. It is built, article by article and region by region, by people who step forward, share what they know, and refuse to let complexity become an excuse for inaction. Issue 13 of Shark News is, in many ways, a testament to exactly that.
At the heart of this edition is change — and the quiet courage it takes to hand the torch. We honour the Regional Vice-Chairs and Red List Authority Coordinator who have steered the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group through some of its most demanding years, among them Cassie Rigby, whose leadership has left an indelible mark on the SSG’s scientific credibility. And we welcome, with genuine excitement, the new Regional Vice-Chairs stepping into these roles from across the globe — their regional insight and commitment to collaboration arriving at a moment when both are urgently needed.
This issue takes you to the rivers of South America, where the Rosette Freshwater Stingray is forcing us to rethink how we manage species in heavily modified basins. It takes you to the open ocean, where the latest Whale Shark tracking data continues to redraw the boundaries of what we thought we understood about connectivity — and why conservation planning must follow the animals, not political borders. It takes you to the cliffs of Ireland, where Basking Sharks have been documented breaching in extraordinary numbers, a reminder that even species we believe we know can still astonish us.
The issue also confronts harder truths. From mobulid gill plates to shark meat on Italian menus, the trade stories in this issue expose just how dynamic, localised, and often invisible the pressure on these animals remains. Hidden trade routes. Critical gaps in evidence. The uncomfortable distance between policy and practice.
But evidence is precisely what is changing that distance. CITES CoP20, the expanding footprint of the ISRA initiative across the European Atlantic, fast genetic tools entering the field, new species alerts, age validation breakthroughs, angelshark recovery, walking sharks in Papua New Guinea, and an extraordinary retrospective of what scientists learned about sharks and rays in 2025 — the science in this issue is as wide-ranging as the ocean itself.
And threaded through it all: the people. A Q&A with Dr Guy Stevens traces the long road from a chance encounter with manta rays to the founding of the Manta Trust. A feature on women and girls in shark research celebrates the next generation of voices demanding their place at the table. Field guides, Red List updates, funding opportunities, and dispatches from Guatemala, Peru, Papua New Guinea, and beyond round out a global picture that is, against all odds, still expanding.
Issue 13 is not a comfortable read. It is not meant to be. But it is an essential one.
