To improve the conservation of the angelshark (Squatina squatina), an acoustic monitoring project has been carried out to identify the effect of tourism on this species.

The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has completed the project “ACUSQUAT: Acoustic monitoring of the behaviour of the angelshark (Squatina squatina) in critical conservation areas” which has had the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition through its 2017 call for grants. The objective has been to study the spatio-temporal behavior of the angelshark and its interaction with bathers to promote plans for use and management on beaches considered as critical areas for their conservation.

The ACUSQUAT project has worked on the application of acoustic monitoring techniques to the study of the behaviour of the angelshark (Squatina squatina), an endangered species with a geographical distribution practically reduced to the Canary Islands. This is of great importance due to the species’ use of sheltered beaches and bays, often under intense tourist pressure, for breeding and frying. As a result, they have been able to monitor coastal enclaves in Gran Canaria included in the Natura 2000 Network, marking a total of 15 adult specimens in them and carrying out various monitoring tasks both with fixed receivers and towed from a boat and an autonomous sailboat. The project has also served to generate meeting spaces with social actors involved and to begin to promote the approach of Use and Management Plans in critical conservation areas for this species. In addition, intense scientific dissemination work has been carried out to society through different events with adults and children.

The project has been carried out in coastal waters of the Canary Islands province of Las Palmas. Specifically, most of the actions have been carried out on the coastal strip of the SW of the island of Gran Canaria (Municipality of Mogán), complemented by a test campaign in the Marine Reserve of the Island of La Graciosa (Municipality of Teguise) north of Lanzarote.