Filling the Gaps to Protect Sharks in Angola
SHOW NOTES
Ana Lúcia’s journey to beginning the Angola Elasmo Project started in childhood [09.13]. She has always held a fascination for sharks, and has been passionate about their conservation from a young age: “For me, they are so majestic and such incredible beings that deserve more respect. And people have the completely wrong idea of them. So for me, it’s like fighting for them in the sense of showing people that they are not these monsters that we thought they were, because we saw a movie when we were younger on TV.” This led Ana Lúcia to pursue a career in marine biology, and after completing a Master’s degree in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, she had a chance encounter while working abroad in the UAE. “I was doing something else there, in another field, because life is not linear,” she explains. “I went to work as, surprisingly, cabin crew…so I started looking for opportunities and one of them was the ELASMO project.” This was a project led by Dr Rima Jabado, now chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group. “I just emailed her and she agreed to take me round and yeah, it was kind of a mentorship relationship and I learned a lot.”
The idea to set up her own project in Angola came five years later [12.39]. Ana Lúcia is Portuguese Angolan, and she wanted to find out if anything was being done about sharks and rays along the Angolan coast: “I have a huge connection with the country. Although I was born in Portugal because of the civil war, because my parents are from there, I travel there a lot. When I was younger and I would see like all this amazing marine life, but also the pollution and people not caring. I remember seeing the fishing boats and it didn’t make sense to me, and I wanted to do something about it.” She researched shark and ray conservation projects in Angola and found nothing – so the idea for the Angola Elasmo Project was born. With the skills gained under Dr Jabado’s mentorship, and a determination to learn more about sharks and rays in the region, Ana Lúcia travelled to Angola to conduct a pilot study. Initially, she was without funding. “I was using my holidays and cheap tickets to do the pilot study. And I was going round markets and beaches, just trying to see if there were any shark fisheries – and I actually found them.” The photos and data from that first trip formed the basis for funding applications to continue her work. “This took a long time,” recalls Ana Lúcia. “It’s a long story, and I’m happy that I’m finally just doing this. This is my profession nowadays.”
Despite the slow start, Ana Lúcia has made significant progress in understanding Angola’s poorly studied fisheries. But, it hasn’t been easy [16.59]. Located in southwest Africa, Angola has a vast coastline of over 1, 600 kilometres. The marine biodiversity is rich, influenced by the cold, nutrient-rich Benguela current and the warmer waters from north of the Gulf of Guinea. “It’s quite incredible. I’ve seen everything there from whales to dolphins to turtles to sharks,” says Ana Lúcia. But, despite the richness in species diversity, not much is done in terms of conservation. There are also extensive fisheries, of which we know relatively little. “During the civil war, a lot of the population and communities moved to the shore because it was safer, and you also had the opportunity to sustain yourself with fisheries and have a source of protein,” explains Ana Lúcia. “Nowadays, there’s no other type of production or source of protein in the country. So they are still highly dependent on that.” Thus far, Ana Lúcia has worked predominantly with these small-scale, artisanal fisheries. But, in more recent years, industrial fleets are causing a problem. “People were not consuming sharks and rays in these quantities, and not at all doing business with it.” Ana Lúcia recalls, thinking back to her pilot study. “This goes to show that there is really a decline in small pelagic fish as well in the region.” Overfishing of their usual catch has driven the fisheries to look more to sharks and rays. “I’ve been kind of doing research there for 10 years and I’ve been seeing every year is less and less on these gill nets. Regardless of the fishery that they are doing, it’s really scarce nowadays. On the other hand, I see more sharks and rays coming on these nets. So this is really a concern.”
Give the lack of data available about these fisheries, Ana Lúcia was essentially starting from scratch [29.00]. But her early approach was simple. “It started very humbly. First of all, I went to ask permission to go to the sites and talk to people. So, I approached the Ministry of Fisheries and I tried to make an appointment to ask them. They received me and they were very surprised because I was not a PhD student at the time. I was not endorsed by any academic institution. And there were just a lot of question marks like who is this girl and why she wants to go to our beaches.” But, over time, Ana Lúcia was able to gain trust. “You have to search for the (person) responsible of these communities, which is usually the oldest fisher. Explain what you’re doing, talk a bit with people, be humble.
They understood that I was not going to damage the fish that they might sell or consume. So they just allowed me to collect my data, which will be measured in a taxonomic way and collecting a DNA sample, a tissue sample, which is nothing. For them, I was not damaging any of their products. So, yeah, why not?”
Once inside the fishing markets, Ana Lúcia can set to work, obtaining samples [44.45]. She collects DNA and tissue samples, for further analysis, and takes records of the species she finds. “Everyday is a surprise. You never know what you’re going to find…because there was never a baseline. It’s a bit unexpected. You need to be prepared for everything.” Another important aspect of the project is capacity building. Ana Lúcia has been working to establish a volunteer network of local students who can continue her work when she is outside the country, and carry out awareness campaigns within the local community. This will help the project to expand, and ensure its sustainability in the future.
Ana Lúcia has also been working with the fishers, to better understand their motivations for catching sharks and rays [46.40]. In a paper published in the journal Aquatic Conservation, Ana Lúcia discussed the findings of 83 interview-based surveys with Angolan fishers. She found that most fishers are aware their catch rates are declining, and that the sharks and rays they are catching are diminishing in size – a sign of a collapsing fishery. But the fishers also had interesting perspectives on sharks and rays. Fishers overall showed more support for conserving sharks, but less so for rays, and even less for guitarfishes. This, Ana Lúcia has discovered, comes from a misunderstanding of what guitarfishes are, and how endangered they are as a group. “I don’t think this will work in terms of conservation if we do not add the educational part of the project, awareness and education. And these communities are obviously a huge concern because of the lack of knowledge in terms of conservation of any marine life. And especially sharks and rays – which this is why we separate rays from guitarfishes. So they don’t have a notion of exactly what is a shark or not, or the importance for the environment.”
Moving forward, Ana Lúcia will continue to share knowledge with the fishers, and raise awareness of the plight of sharks and rays, with the help of her growing community of volunteers. “I’m very proud of the work done by the volunteers and that we are developing there. People are aware of the project, and we have a close presence in the community because most of the volunteers are actually from there. They bring people in, their cousin, their friend, or they are talking about this at home.
The communities are open to the information that has been delivered, the events that we’re organizing as well. And yeah, I’m planning to go back during the summer still to do some more awareness campaigns and also some meetings that are going to push the project to the next step.”
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Ana Lúcia Furtado Soares
Ana Lúcia Furtado Soares is a marine scientist and the founder of the Angola Elasmo Project, a grassroots initiative focused on the research and conservation of sharks and rays along the Angolan coast. Lúcia has led efforts to document biodiversity, engage small-scale fishing communities, and raise awareness of the alarming decline of shark populations in Angola. Her work bridges scientific research with community-based conservation, aiming to influence fisheries policy and marine protection strategies. She is also a member of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group for Africa and collaborates internationally with Save Our Seas Foundation and other partners. Passionate about equity in conservation, she blends science, education, and local voices to drive lasting change.
You can follow the Angola Elasmo Project on Instagram and find out more about the project here:
Documenting shark diversity and fisheries in Angola
