Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1490317

Sharks in Macaronesia and Cabo Verde: species richness, conservation status and anthropogenic pressures

Provisionally accepted
Jaquelino Varela Jaquelino Varela 1,2*Catarina Pereira Santos Catarina Pereira Santos 1,2,3Emanuel Nunes Emanuel Nunes 1,4Vasco Pissarra Vasco Pissarra 1,2Stiven Pires Stiven Pires 5Tiago Repolho Tiago Repolho 1,6Rui Freitas Rui Freitas 7Rui Rosa Rui Rosa 1,2,8*
  • 1 Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2 Sphyrna Association, Sal Rei, Cabo Verde
  • 3 Environmental Economics Knowledge Center, School of Business and Economics, New University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 4 Inspeção Geral das Pescas, Ministério do Mar, Sal Rei, Cabo Verde
  • 5 Biosfera Associação para a Defesa do Meio Ambiente, Mindelo, Cabo Verde
  • 6 Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
  • 7 Instituto de Engenharia e Ciências do Mar, Universidade Técnica do Atlântico, Mindelo, Cabo Verde
  • 8 Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa,, Lisboa, Portugal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The northeast Atlantic Ocean contains multiple habitats considered critical for shark conservation, including nursery areas, migratory corridors and aggregation sites. In this context, updating knowledge on shark diversity and the threats affecting them in this region is essential to defining priorities and implementing the right management and conservation measures. Here, we show that Macaronesian and Cabo Verde marine ecoregions are home to 78 shark species (comprising 26 families), and 56% are threatened with extinction. The Canary Islands revealed the greatest richness (with 56 species), followed by Cabo Verde (53), Madeira (52), and the Azores (45). Cabo Verde presents fewer similarities with the rest of the islands. We also found that: i) Azores share more species with the Canary Islands than Madeira (despite the greater geographical proximity with the latter), and ii) there are no oviparous species in the Cabo Verde archipelago, contrary to the Canary Islands (5), the Azores (4), and Madeira (3). Fishing and habitat degradation are the most relevant anthropogenic pressures for the region, with Cabo Verde having the highest number of endangered species (66%) and a greater magnitude and diversity of threats. As such, this archipelago presents the highest priority area for shark conservation due to the intense industrial fishing in its waters, poor management measures in combination with its greater vulnerability to climate change.

    Keywords: elasmobranch, Northeast Atlantic, fishery, Habitat degradation, Climate Change

    Received: 03 Sep 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Varela, Santos, Nunes, Pissarra, Pires, Repolho, Freitas and Rosa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Jaquelino Varela, Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Lisbon, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal
    Rui Rosa, Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Lisbon, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.