Underwater camera captures critically endangered shark in Cardigan Bay

One of the Wildlife Trust’s underwater cameras off the coast of Wales has captured footage of a critically endangered shark.

The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales revealed the sighting of the rare Angelshark as part of National Marine Week.

Baited Underwater Remote Video Systems (BRUVS) were deployed by a research team in Cardigan Bay as part of the Dolphin Diet Detectives project.

The probe is investigating dolphin diets and marine diversity in the coastal area.

The BRUVS were deployed in a range of habitats and left to record for just one hour at each location.

Declines

The cameras have captured a huge range of wildlife both inside and outside of the protected areas, including Spider Crabs, Wrasse, and most recently an Angelshark.

The sharks are critically endangered, suffering significant declines as a result of fishing and habitat degradation.

They live on the seabed where they are well camouflaged to ambush flatfishes, crustaceans and molluscs.

But their bottom dwelling lifestyle makes them vulnerable to being caught in trawl nets, and along with their slow reproduction rate this puts them at a high risk of extinction.

‘Rare’

Dr Sarah Perry, Marine Conservation and Research Manager at WTSWW, said: “We were thrilled to record an Angelshark in Cardigan Bay, a rare and exciting encounter.

“Before this project started, Angelsharks hadn’t been captured on film in Cardigan Bay since 2021.

“This sighting comes at a crucial time, as the Senedd and UK Government discuss a ban on bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas.

“Our Dolphin Diet Detectives project, funded by the Welsh Government through the Nature Networks Fund, uses underwater cameras to reveal the incredible diversity of life on the seabed.

“These findings highlight the urgent need to protect these fragile habitats from damaging activities like bottom trawling.”

National Marine Week runs from 26th July to 10th August.

As part of the campaign, the Wildlife Trusts are uncovering the mysterious world of the UK’s seabeds.

These vital habitats are full of incredible wildlife and store vast amounts of carbon, yet they are threatened with destruction by industrial scale fishing in many areas.

Even Marine Protected Areas, of which there are 139 in Wales, are not yet fully protected from destructive fishing activities such as bottom trawling, where huge nets and chains are dragged along the ocean floor, bulldozing anything in their way.

The UK Government is currently running a consultation on the practice of bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas.

The public can add their voice to this consultation by telling the UK Government to stop bottom trawling here.