“I had no idea!”: What happens when fishers learn the truth about angel sharks

Ali Qanabi has been fishing for the waters off Misrata for most of his life. He knows the sea like he knows his own home, the currents, the seasons, where the fish gather and why. When I showed him a picture of an angel shark, he laughed.

Then I told him they were critically endangered. The scientists believed they had disappeared from most of the Mediterranean. That catching and selling them could push them closer to extinction.

The Gap Nobody Talks About

When we surveyed professional fishers across Libya’s coast, we found something remarkable and troubling. Every single one of them could identify angel sharks.. These men have been watching these creatures their entire working lives.

But only five of them, just 11%, knew that angel sharks were Critically Endangered.

Think about that for a moment. The people who interact with these animals every week, who could tell you which months they appear in which waters, who recognise the difference between the three species at a glance these same people had never been told that the sharks were in danger.

This isn’t the fishers’ fault. It’s ours. The conservation community, the scientists, the international organisations failed to reach the people who matter most.

What’s Happening to the Water

The consequences of this knowledge gap are playing out every day. Of the fishers who catch angel sharks and nearly all of them do more than 90% land and sell them. The sharks end up at fish markets, sold alongside everything else that came up in the nets.

But here’s what gives me hope: most of these sharks are still alive when they come aboard. Angel sharks are tough. They can survive being hauled up in a net, lying on a deck, being handled by fishers. There’s a window a real chance to release them.

The problem isn’t capability. It’s knowledge.

An angel shark caught on a trawling vessel in Tripoli, held up by team member DAW Hadoud. Photo © Sarah Al Mabruk

The Surprise That Changed My Thinking

Here’s what I didn’t expect to find: 56% of fishers said they’d be willing to release them alive.

More than half. Before any awareness campaign. Before any training. Before anyone even asked.

Among Libyan fishers specifically, that number rose to 71%. Among veterans with more than 40 years of experience the old men of the sea, the ones who’ve watched the waters change over decades 77% said yes.

These fishers don’t need to be convinced that the ocean matters. They already know. What they need is the one piece of information nobody ever gave them: these sharks are disappearing, and you can help save them.

What Happens When They Know

Ali Qanabi, the fisherman from Misrata who laughed when I first asked about angel sharks, is now one of our strongest advocates. He tells other fishers about what he learned. He releases the sharks he catches. He’s helped spread the message through fishing communities that no scientist could ever reach on their own.

That’s what happens when knowledge reaches the people who can actually use it. Not lectures. Not regulations imposed from above. Just truth, shared human to human.

Work Ahead

Libya’s coast remains one of the important refuges for adult angel sharks in the Mediterranean We have something precious here and we have a community of fishers who are ready to help protect it.

What we need now is to reach more people like Ali. To have more conversations on the docks and in the harbours. To trust that when people understand what’s at stake, most of them will choose to help.

We’re not trying to turn fishers into enemies. We’re trying to turn them into allies. And based on what we’ve seen, they’re already willing.

If you’re a fisher, a diver, or someone who spends time on Libya’s coast talk to us. Learn about angel sharks. Then pass it on.