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Help Project SIARC monitor the wonderful sharks, skates and rays found around the coast of Wales.
The marine environment in Wales is teeming with life; beneath the often-murky waters are little understood species of shark, skate and ray (elasmobranchs) of conservation importance.
Project SIARC (Sharks Inspiring Action and Research with Communities) is working to catalyse links between fishers, researchers, communities and government to collaborate and safeguard elasmobranchs and support a green recovery in Wales.
Marine Biologists have been recording underwater video footage from the coast of Wales using Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems (BRUVS). These have been deployed in the Pen Llŷn a'r Sarnau Special Conservation Area (SAC) to capture important information about the diverse range of species present, their behaviours, and how they use different habitats.
The project is focusing on gathering information on four flagship elasmobranch species - Angelshark, Spurdog, Stingray and Tope. These species are present in Wales but face significant threats throughout their wider range. We need your help in identifying these elasmobranchs on the video footage, along with a whole host of other marine species too!
Every image you tag in this project will help to fill critical data gaps, allowing scientists, fishers and local communities to better understand what elasmobranch species are present in Wales. This data will then be used to better understand what elasmobranch species use the SAC and help to safeguard the future of these species in Wales.
Project SIARC is a collaborative project led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW), with the support of Nature Networks Fund, National Lottery Heritage Fund and On the EDGE Conservation. It is a multidisciplinary project, combining both social and biological sciences and is completed in partnership with Blue Abacus, Bangor University, North Wales Wildlife Trust, Swansea University and Shark Trust, alongside several collaborative partners.
Images kindly provided by Jake Davies:
Black goby, common dragonet, dog fish, European plaice, angelshark, sand/harbour crabs, macropodia, plaice, snake pipefish, common squid, Two-spotted goby, bib, common goby, common shore crab, European lobster, painted goby, rock gunnel, sand goby, spider crab, spotted ray, nursehound, velvet swimming crab, red mullet, rock cook wrasse, netted dog whelk, Atlantic mackerel, hermit crab, compass jellyfish.
Flapper skate image kindly provided by Fenella Wood
Porbeagle image kindly provided by Lloyd Jones
Common smoothhound image kindly provided by Michael J Sealey
Creative commons images:
Stingray – Alfonso Gonzalez
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
European Flounder By © Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1798016
Greater pipefish By © Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1798379
Whiting -Georges Jansoone (JoJan) -, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Wijting002.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wijting002.jpg
Atlantic torpedo ray By Unknown author - http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/caribbean/en/pages/random/11507, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53008787
Starry smooth hound - © Hans Hillewaert / CC BY-SA 4.0
Spurdog – spinydogfish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinydogfish#/media/File:Squalusacanthiasstellwagen.jpg
By Doug Costa, NOAA/SBNMS - https://marinelife.noaa.gov/medialib/preview.aspx?ID=7299&p=img, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6449293
Public domain images:
Poor cod, by Gervais et Boulart - Les poissons Gervais, H., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18423199
