From Extermination to Conservation: Historical Records of Shark Presence during the Early and Development Phase of the Greek Fishery

The lack of historical data on shark presence, distribution, and status in the Eastern Mediterranean undermines efforts to manage and protect their populations. An exhaustive review of anecdotal references related to shark presence during the early and development phase of Greek fisheries (1883-1983) was conducted. In the early-20th century (1912), the first sighting of the presence of a dead shark was reported in the Ionian Sea. Later on, the presence of sharks gradually increased up to 1969, with most records being more frequent for the Aegean Sea, whereas the number of sharks being sighted declined leading up to the middle of 1980s. The increase in shark attacks during the mid-20th century led to a calling for culling of sharks in co-operation with the competent authorities promoting the permission to hunt sharks with firearms and offering rewards for killed individuals. A high number of these observations potentially resulted from shark attacks on people, whereas this is not currently evident. This is an indicator of the lower abundance of sharks in modern times and subsequently an alteration in the way that our current modern society is approaching the protection of such vulnerable species.