Image of shark underwater. Credit: Pete Kontakos / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
Thirty-three shark and twenty stingray species have been recorded swimming in seas around Greece in the last ninety years, environmental organization iSea recently reported.
Program manager of iSea, Roxani Naasan Aga-Spyridopoulou said that the study of the sharks and stingrays “increased our knowledge of these species, which are so important as top predators.”
Spread of shark sightings in Greece over the decades
The organization drew up a map depicting the location of the sightings around Greece throughout the years. As can be seen, sharks have been spotted across the Eastern Mediterranean country.
Map of Greece depicting shark sighting locations. Credit: iSea
“The Greek seas are known to host a variety of chondrichthyans, the presence of which has been documented since the time of Aristotle,” Aga-Spyridopoulou noted.
“However, it is only in the last two decades that systematic scientific research has been carried out,” she explained. “This is gradually closing the knowledge gap on the ecology and biology of these species, but information on their spatial distribution is still scarce, with a limited number of studies providing such data and focusing mainly on biological and fishery-related parameters.”
Shark attacks in Greece
When vacationing in Greece, few stop and think of the dangers that could be lurking below the idyllic waters, but an academic paper published in 2023 has revealed new insights on the frequency of shark attacks in Greece.
The paper, authored by Christos Taklis, provides a detailed statistical breakdown of shark attacks in Greek waters over the past 180 years. Thankfully, swimmers in Greece can rest assured that such incidents are mostly relegated to the Jaws movies, and incidents are quite rare. Nevertheless, an appropriate degree of caution and care should be taken when enjoying time in the water.
According to the study, the deadliest decade for recorded shark attacks in Greek waters was the 1950s. Over the span of this decade, there were a total of six incidents, five of which proved fatal. The overall picture, however, is that shark attacks in Greece are rare. Over the 180 years examined in the paper, there were only seventeen recorded incidents.
“The victim profile of recorded shark attacks in Greece is consistent with global trends, with the majority of victims being male and engaged in water activities such as swimming and diving,” explains Taklis.
Ten of the victims were male, four were female, and three remain unidentified. Most of the victims were attacked on Corfu, where six incidents were recorded. Two attacks also took place in the Greater Athens area (Attica), with just one incident recorded each for the Cyclades, Thessaly, and the Pagasitikos Gulf. Some of the locations remain unknown.
Related: Shark Spotted at a Marina Just South of Athens, Greece