Assessing the relevance of sharks and rays for Mediterranean EU fisheries to support a transition from species exploitation to species conservation

Ten years (2013–2022) of official data on elasmobranchs landed and discarded by European fishing fleets operating in the Mediterranean Sea were analysed with the primary objective of assessing the significance of shark and ray catches for the main fleet segments across five Mediterranean regions (i.e. Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean, Ionian Sea, Adriatic Sea). The annual elasmobranch catches ranged from 3200 to 5800 tons, declining consistently from 2020 to 2022. Four fishing gears (i.e., bottom trawls, longlines, trammel nets, and gillnets) contributed over 96.6% of the reported catch, with notable variations among regions. Bottom trawlers accounted for approximately 75% of catches, discarding around 40%; fixed nets and longlines had minimal discard rates (< 2.5%). The Western Mediterranean contributed the most to total catches (2057–3229 tons/year), followed by the Adriatic Sea. Generalized Additive Models revealed a significant relationship between catches and fishing effort, indicating increasing catches at high fishing effort levels. Reported landings included species absent in the Mediterranean and considered rare or extremely rare in the basin, highlighting the need for better species reporting. The average contribution of sharks and rays to the total annual landings of EU fisheries operating in the Mediterranean Sea was 0.72% in weight and 0.60% in economic value, amounting to approximately 92.8 million euros over the decade. During this same period, the cumulative landing of these fisheries reached an overall monetary value of 15.4 billion euros. As elasmobranchs no longer represent a substantial revenue stream for Mediterranean fleets, implementing conservation measures to restore depleted shark and ray populations will likely have minimal impact on the economic sustainability of fisheries.